Sugar High

A journey through pictures on the hard drive has left me with an idea of sorts- a picture post of sweet treats. Since Halloween is over for yet another year, and we're left with a ton of not so good for you temptations it may give you some ideas about what to do with your leftovers!  If nothing else, the pictures may make you drool!

Without further delay-

Candy Mountain

Affectionately called Candy Mountain, this is a top view of Ice Cream Sandwich Cake- ice cream sandwiches layered with whipped topping, chocolate syrup and your favourite candy bars.  Big hit at the family picnic- and a little bit goes a LONG way!

Candy Mountain Mud Slide! 

Oh, it was worth it!

Monster Cookie Dough Dip

Oh, no- you DIDN'T!  Um, yeah, I did.  And I liked it!  Cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter (or soy nut butter) oatmeal and chocolate.  Dip graham crackers, (or to pretend you're being healthy) go for apples.  Tart green ones are the best!

I liked it!

Nobody has to know just how man calories are in there.  It's a treat.  Again, totally worth it!

Did someone say s'mores?

Oh, you like s'mores?  Me too.  An  addiction that will likely end with an early grave for me.

Traditional

Nothing but graham crackers, marshmallow and two squares of chocolate.  The kids don't like them- they say they are too sweet.  Puhshaw.

S'more chocolate chip cookies

My favourite chocolate chip cookie
recipe altered with a touch of pure graham flour, milk chocolate chips and rolled around a marshmallow.  For when you're in a pinch....

Fireless S'mores

Since we were under a fire ban for a good portion of the summer, the family picnic had an altered version of s'mores- marshmallows dipped in chocolate and coated with crushed graham crackers.

Smartie Pants Marshmallows

While we're on the subject of marshmallows, these were yummy too- dipped in chocolate and rolled in chopped smarties.

Yummy Mummy

That brings me back to ice cream- two gourmet chocolate chunk cookies make the perfect vessel for homemade vanilla ice cream.  It doesn't get much better than this....

Chocolate Chunk with Toasted Cashews

I find myself back at cookies.  Need I say more?

Oatmeal Coconut Sandwich Cookies

There is not often a shortage of cookies in this house.  The ones on the left are oatmeal coconut filled with high calorie high protein sunflower butter frosting, the right are filled with fresh raspberry jam.

Fudge Topped Oatmeal Cookies

Then we have Fudge Topped Oatmeal Cookies.  They kind of made my teeth hurt, but I would totally do it again!















Oh my!  I'm not even 6 months back in pictures and I still have so many you haven't seen!  What are your favourite Sugar High Treats?  I'm going to keep searching and see what else I find, but in the mean time- if you dropped by for a quick peek don't forget to say hi!

xxoo

Autumn Blessings

Roasted Squash Soup with White Wine

• 1 average sized winter squash, sliced into chunks(I used 1/2 butternut and 1/2 buttercup)
• 1-2 large carrot
• 2 apples, cored and quartered (I leave the skin on)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic (no need to remove the papery skin)
• 1/2 onion
• Drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of salt and pepper
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1/2 cup sweet white wine (*optional- if omitting, use a full cup of juice)
• 1/2 cup apple juice or cider
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar (if NOT using wine)
• 3 1/2 cups chicken broth

Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.

Line a jelly roll pan (or cake pan) with 2 layers of tin foil.Wash squash, cut and remove seeds.  Slice into manageable chunks, keeping size somewhat uniform.  Scrub carrots and slice into chunks.  Remove skin from onion and slice.  Place squash, carrot, apple, garlic and onion on prepared pan.  Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper- turn to coat- and then turn squash so that all of the skin is facing up.  Hide thyme under an apple quarter.

Ready for the oven

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  I like to keep the temperature a little lower, and roast them longer just to make sure that they caramelize- and not burn!  There is no real need to turn them while they cook, but sometimes I like to fiddle.  Makes me feel useful.  This is what they look like when they are ready:

Nicely roasted, super yummy!

Remove squash and carrot from pan, set aside to cool.  This leaves the onion, garlic, apple and thyme on the baking pan.  Turn oven up to 400 degrees.  Pour white wine and apple juice (or apple juice+ cider vinegar) onto pan- squish the garlic and apple with a wooden spoon- moving skins to the far side of the pan (no need for the skins in the soup). gently loosen any of the carmalized bits off of the bottom of the pan.  Place pan back in oven for a few minutes.

Deglazing the pan

 Meanwhile, heat chicken broth and remove skin from squash.  Slide squash and carrot into broth.  Remove pan from oven and pour the fragrant drippings into broth- careful to leave the garlic skins, apple skins and onion behind.  Simmer for a few minutes.  Remove from heat.  Puree until smooth.

Best kitchen appliance ever!

The secret to a really smooth squash soup- sieve!  I always do it twice, taking the time to gently push it through a fine mesh strainer, scraping off the bottom as often as possible.  It's like velvet!

 Serve warm or room temperature.  Add a pat of butter, or a dash of cream.  Pack some up for the freezer, or for a neighbour that is under the weather.  It won't last long!

With cream, and smoked ham, cheese and apple croissant...

With butter, apple slices and smoked cheddar scones....

Packaged to go to a neighbour...

Adventures in Feeding Therapy

I am writing this post with a heavy heart.  We have completed the eight extra sessions of Feeding Therapy that I fought really hard to get.  There will be no more.  It breaks my heart to think that we're back to doing this without professional support.  I am not sure what our options are, or what to do next other than hope- but thought that it was still important to share this with you.

Feeding Therapy is about making it all work.  Generally speaking, there are many factors involved in feeding disorders, and a broad range of approaches.

Smile!

One of the first things that our feeding therapist did with Owen was mirror work.  Now that I look back I am kind of kicking myself over not thinking of it.  It's hard to move your mouth effectively if you have difficulty feeling it.  And it's really hard to figure out how your tongue works if you don't even realize that you've got one.

I see a tongue in there! Can you stick it out?

I will be the first to admit that putting a mirror beside the kitchen table is a little weird, but if it helps him- I'm game!

Stick out your tongue! Notice how flat it is?

Owen and I have learned a lot about how his body works during our therapy sessions.  I learned that sometimes we have to physically assist him by helping him stabilize his jaw to make it work more effectively.  And that he often needs a mirror so that he can see himself- because his sensory system sends mixed up messages he can't go by feeling alone.

Now sweep the tongue across

Stabilize the jaw

Owen has spent a lot of time learning about how his body works.  We have coloured and named the different parts of the tongue and mouth, tasted things that are bitter, sour, sweet and salty.  We spend a lot of time describing textures too- like soft, smooth, crunchy, hard.  We talk about small bites since he chokes so often- yes, I have watched him turn blue on a few occasions, which frightens me to death.  He is learning to spit!  I know, it doesn't sound like something a parent should be proud of, but it tells me that he is gaining a bit more oral motor awareness and control.

Just for fun, we smear things around his mouth (like chocolate sauce or strawberries) and have him try to move his tongue to clean it off.  Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, he smears a little farther than his tongue can reach....

You've come a long way Baby!

I plan on writing a post every Thursday for the next little while to give you a glimpse inside our lives.  Thursday will henceforth be known as Therapy Thursday, and I hope that you will join me.  Post a blog, or tweet about it using the hashtag #TherapyThursday.  Feel free to post a link below in the comment section!  Remember that there are many different types of therapy- Occupational, Physical, Feeding, Speech Language and Behavioural to name a few.  I hope it will serve as yet another way to spread awareness of special needs!

From the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists

"Occupational therapy is the art and science of enabling engagement in everyday living, through occupation; of enabling people to perform the occupations that foster health and well-being; and of enabling a just and inclusive society so that all people may participate to their potential in the daily occupations of life (Townsend& Polatajko, 2007, p. 372)."

Apple Bacon Baked Beans

Market Fresh 

It's that time of year again.  Did I mention that I don't like the cold?  The only part I enjoy about the cold weather is sitting down to a nice hot bowl of soup or stew that has simmered away all day.

I'm stepping out of my usual recipe zone for today.  No cupcakes.  No quick breads.  Just a good old fashioned  meal of baked beans.  Say what you will about them, they are a nutritional powerhouse.  They are quick (and cheap), full of fibre (and cheap), high in protein (and cheap) and, well, SOMETIMES they are low in fat (and don't forget, cheap!).  If you don't add a pound of bacon that is!

I'm not entirely sure where this recipe comes from to be honest.  It seems I say that a lot, but I've been in the kitchen from the time I was old enough to peel carrots, and most of what I cook is from memory.  I'm sure that at one point I must of read it in a book, since I certainly wasn't  interested in the internet when I was a teenager.  Granted, back then it was not a super highway, more like a winding country road with a speed limit of 10km/hr. If I remember correctly it was pretty bumpy too.  My how times have changed!

To save yourself the soaking and cooking time I suggest using canned navy beans.  Sure, they cost about a buck a can, but they do save a bit of time.  If you prefer to soak and cook dried beans, 2 cups of dry beans is equal to one 540ml (19oz) can.  I like to cook these in the crock pot and then refrigerate them overnight to let the flavours meld.  I do the same thing with chilli.  For some reason it just tastes better the second day.

It's hard to make beans look pretty....

Ingredients

• 2 540ml (19oz) cans of navy beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups of tomato juice
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 - 3 cooking apples, diced(try Cortland, Lodi, Jonagold)
• 1 good sized onion, finely chopped
• 6 rashers of bacon, diced
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• salt and pepper to taste

In a Crockpot or Dutch oven, combine above ingredients.  Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours.  I like to let them sit in the fridge overnight, and we reheat them for supper the following night.

I'm serious.  That's it.  You can double or triple the recipe with no problem.  And you'll never want to eat beans from a can again!

Cornmeal Tea Biscuits pair wonderfully with beans!

And just to get an a bit of cake in the post I'll show you what we had for dessert.....

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Breaking News

Mommy was wrong.

Just a few short weeks ago I did a #TherapyThursday post called Striving for Balance.  I said, and I quote:

"Balance is such a challenge that Owen may never graduate from a tricycle."

I was wrong.  I did not put enough faith in the idea that he could push through the challenge.  I was wrong.  And I am sorry.

I am pleased to announce that Owen has graduated!  The tricycle has been retired:)

This  post is part of  #TherapyThursday, which I hope gives you a glimpse inside our lives.  Care to join me in raising awareness of Special Needs?  Post a blog, picture or tweet about it using the hashtag #TherapyThursday.  Feel free to post a link below in the comment section!  Remember that there are many different types of therapy- Occupational, Physical, Feeding, Speech Language and Behavioural to name a few.  I hope it will serve as yet another way to spread awareness of special needs!

From the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists

"Occupational therapy is the art and science of enabling engagement in everyday living, through occupation; of enabling people to perform the occupations that foster health and well-being; and of enabling a just and inclusive society so that all people may participate to their potential in the daily occupations of life (Townsend& Polatajko, 2007, p. 372)."

Striving for Balance

I never really thought much about it.

It just happens, right?  Sort of a natural progression of things once we start walking.  Sure it takes practice,  but if you can walk, you must have sense of balance.  Right?

For some kids, it's simple.  But for Owen, balance is complicated.  It requires many components like body awareness, core or trunk strength, flexibility of movement, visual assistance and comfort with movement.  It also requires multiple sensors within your body to function well together.  Vestibular system (inner ear), proprioception (joints),  kinesthetics (muscles) and vision all need to work together to send the right messages to the brain.

Working hard!

Balance is such a challenge that Owen may never graduate from a tricycle.  I am all right with this idea, so long as he is comfortable with it.  I do hate the thought of him feeling left out or uncomfortable with not being able to keep up with his friends, but until he tells me otherwise, we're just going to keep working hard.

When we first started working on balance I had no idea that there are so many important things you can do to help make everything work a little better.  Try swinging, rotational swinging (remember tire swings?), jumping, rolling, sitting on a large ball instead of a chair, scooter boards (we use a skateboard), slides, and variations in speed.  Most of these things can easily be accomplished in your own backyard, at a park, or even in your living room!

I used an old skate board to make a balance board.  I removed the wheels, drilled a hole and screwed a section of pvc pipe onto the bottom.  All three of my kids LOVE to play on this!  Owen still needs to feel stable while using it so he often uses the couch to steady himself while he balances and watches TV.

Occupational therapy doesn't have to be expensive- think outside the box!

Sweet Ride!

This  post is part of  #TherapyThursday, which I hope gives you a glimpse inside our lives.  Care to join me in raising awareness of Special Needs?  Post a blog, picture or tweet about it using the hashtag #TherapyThursday.  Feel free to post a link below in the comment section!  Remember that there are many different types of therapy- Occupational, Physical, Feeding, Speech Language and Behavioural to name a few.  I hope it will serve as yet another way to spread awareness of special needs! 

From the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists

"Occupational therapy is the art and science of enabling engagement in everyday living, through occupation; of enabling people to perform the occupations that foster health and well-being; and of enabling a just and inclusive society so that all people may participate to their potential in the daily occupations of life (Townsend& Polatajko, 2007, p. 372)."

Be a Hero

Have you ever wanted to be a hero?

I have three children.  The oldest, my stepson, is the one I call my child by choice- he is not of my body or blood, but he holds one third of my heart.  The middle, my first born, made my heart grow about 10 times it's original size.  He has some special needs.  The littlest, but by far the biggest personality, is living proof that love can move mountains.  Not a single one of them has a peanut allergy.  We are very lucky.

We often spend our summer weekends at the beach.  This past weekend, I happened to look under the picnic table, and discovered that the ground was covered in peanuts.  At first, I was a little annoyed that someone had left their "garbage" on the sand.  Then I looked around and saw empty water bottles and a little further up the beach there were a couple of abandoned cans and I thought at least peanuts are biodegradable.  The lesser of two evils.

And then it hit me.

The peanuts may not actually be the lesser of two evils because to someone with a severe peanut allergy,  they could mean death.


I watched my daughter crawl under the table and wiggle around on her four year old hands and knees and wondered what would happen to a younger child with a peanut allergy that they may or may not be aware of.  If you know about it, you most likely have an epi-pen, but if you don't, *what then?

I suddenly couldn't bear to think of the *what then.

I dropped down on my hands and knees and asked my daughter to help me find all of the peanuts.  We gathered all of the shells and peanuts I could find and made a mad dash to the garbage pail.  I suppose it sounds silly and full of desperation but that is exactly how it happened.

You see, my kids don't have a peanut allergy, but like all children, they need people to show them how to  be responsible community members.  In my mind that means that not only should I look out for my own, I should also look out for others.  I'm not telling you to keep your peanuts at home, I'm just asking you to use them with care.  Try not to leave them laying around.  We all have a ton of things to worry about when we take our kids to the beach, let's make the load a little easier where we can, and try to take care of each other.

We are quick to call the person that jumps in to the freezing cold water to save a child a hero, but picking up your peanuts makes you a hero too.

Thin Crust Pizza Dough in Five Minutes

It's Dough Time!

Looking for an easy way to get your kids to help in the kitchen?  Pizza! I know, I know- sounds like an awful lot of work, but the hardest part is making the dough. Until now! This recipe makes enough dough for one thin crust pizza, or 2 super thin cracker crust pizzas. There is no rising time either- you make the dough, roll it, top it and bake it! No additives, no preservatives, and you can choose the type of flour you want to use.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup hot water
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• pinch of sugar or honey
• 1 3/4 cup flour (use all purpose and half whole grain spelt)
• 1/4 tsp salt

Combine water, yeast and sugar/honey. Set aside to let it foam up a bit.  I never really let it sit for more time than it takes to find the mixing bowl and measure the flour.  

Place 3/4 cup of flour in a large mixing bowl, and whisk in salt. Pour water/yeast mixture over top.  With an electric mixer, beat at medium speed until smooth and elastic, about 2 minutes. Add remaining flour, stir or knead in by hand. Work the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. (You are aiming for a smooth, elastic type texture.  If the dough seems sticky, sprinkle more flour and knead)  Roll dough out on a floured surface, transfer to pizza pan and add your favourite toppings.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes. Makes one large thin crust pizza. For a super thin cracker style crust, divide the dough in half, and brush edges with a tiny bit of olive oil. Watch your baking time- it will only take about 15-20 minutes for the cracker style crust.

I usually make 2 pizzas for our family of 4. While I make the second batch of dough for the grown up pizza, the kids put the toppings on theirs. Served with a Caesar side salad or vegetables and dip, or fruit and vegetable smoothies, it makes a much healthier choice than take out.

A few words about take out pizza....

I have been making this pizza for a number of years now.  At first, it was a cost saving measure, as with most of the home cooking I do, since Jon started his apprenticeship just after we met.  We could barely afford to live let alone get take out.  But then, after Owen came along, and we realized that he had food sensitivities coupled with a severe feeding disorder, we felt that it was incredibly important to pay attention to what we were putting on our table.  Have you ever thought about what does in to commercially produced pizza?

Common ingredients found in crust:  Partially hydrogenated soybean or cottonseed oil (transfat- the bad stuff), vital wheat gluten, high fructose corn syrup,  fumeric acid, Diacetyl Tartaric Acid Ester of Mono- and Diglycerides (DATEM is the shortform- DUDE!  If I can't say it, I don't want to eat it!) Amylase, Alpha Amylase, Silicon Dioxide.

I think I would rather have this....

One Hundred Percent Whole Stone Ground  Spelt Flour

How does shredded mozzarella sound?  Does it still sound yummy when I tell you that most companies add powdered cellulose made from wood pulp to keep it from clumping together?  Also interesting to note- powdered cellulose increases the fibre content of food.  Here you thought you were getting more fibre from better quality whole grains.  Read more about cellulose here.  Another interesting add on in cheese- Natamycin. It is an anitfungal, in the same family as Nystatin.  While I am happy that my pizza cheese is likely to be mould free, and now higher in fibre and non-clumping, wouldn't it be better to avoid the additives and shred my own mozzarella?

I think I would be much better off using this.....

One Hundred Percent Fresh Mozzarella and Cheddar Cheese

For a long time, it seemed like having take out pizza once a week wasn't a bad idea.  But if you take that one meal, with all of those additives, and then remember that many of them are found in other mass produced bakery goods, how much are you actually eating?

I think that I would rather eat this....

Which would you prefer?

Hey!  If you stopped by, THANK YOU!  Please feel free to drop me a line below in the comments section!  I love hearing from you!

Breakfast Trifle

Care to share?  Yes, please!

This makes a super simple breakfast, snack or dessert.  The only secret is to put them together the day before you want to have them.  Play with this basic recipe and see if you can make it healthier!  For Owen, I sometimes make a coconut milk Blancmange (stove top cooked custard with eggs, coconut milk and sugar) in place of the yogurt.  In this house, that is known as "Eggs, Cleverly Disguised...as Pudding".   Replacing the angel food cake with Omega 3 packed blueberry muffins could also boost the nutrition!

Ready!

For this recipe, you will need:

• chunks of angel food cake (or day old blueberry muffins)
• a few handfuls of your favourite berries, fresh (well washed) or frozen
• a drizzle of orange juice, or some low sugar jam
• your favourite French vanilla yogurt
• single serving size containers

Place chunks of cake or muffins in the bottom of your containers.  Top with berries, a drizzle of orange juice or jam.  Top with yogurt.  Make as many as you wish- it's really that simple!

Set!

Seal containers, and *REFRIGERATE until ready to serve.

Go!

Do you want to try some?  You won't be disappointed!

*When yogurt is in contact with any other food, it is extremely important to refrigerate while it is holding and use promptly.  Why?  Because it is a bacteria culture- full of healthy bacterial cultures, which are good for your health.  BUT- say you want to sweeten it up a bit and use unpasteurised honey- which can carry botulism toxin.  Yogurt has potential to help breed botulism toxin as well as those wonderful beneficial bacteria as well if it is kept warm enough!  Keep it cold until ready to eat! 

Hey!  If you stopped by, THANK YOU!  Please feel free to drop me a line below in the comments section!  I love hearing from you!

Fine Motor Skills

Occupational Therapy works best for us when we don't realize that we are actually doing it.  When we build it in to our day and it becomes so automatic that I forget there is a purpose.  Really, any activity that we do together is a chance to build skill- and each skill that is gained is a stepping stone to something bigger.  It's not much different than what you would do when you engage any child.  We just do it a little more often, and sometimes we have to approach it in a different way.  I love finding activities that do "double duty", where we work on multiple skills at the same time.  I went through a phase where I thought that I needed to buy all sorts of fancy Occupational Therapy sets and toys, but know I realize that it actually makes more sense to use real life experiences for teaching moments.

Today we are working with coins, which is partially a fine motor task, but also a learning experience for school.  Over the summer it was suggested that we work developing his fine motor but also that he become more familiar with Canadian coins.  So wrapped up in one activity we have fine motor, sorting, math awareness and language.  No special equipment required, it all starts with a jar of pocket change.

Hyperlexia has some advantages, especially to get the party started!  If he doesn't really want to play with something, I can always suggest we make letters!  Not a big fan of letters?  Make shapes!  Make lines!  Separate by coin type- this picture has just pennies, but how dimes, nickels or quarters?  Make a pattern line for beginning reading tasks- penny penny nickel, penny penny nickel. Just like that you added a language task!

We sort them, stack them, make letters with them.  We build towers.  And then we knock them down.  He reaches for them.  If I plan it out well, I can get him using both hands at the same time, which is something that he has great difficulty with.  I can move the piles around and then ask him to cross mid-line to pick them up.  Sometimes we play specific games with the coins, and sometimes he sneaks away and plays with them all by himself.  That's what I call a winning therapy experience!

My favourite part of coin therapy?  Counting out enough money to get a treat at the store!  It's important to have a pay out at the end:)

This  post is part of  #TherapyThursday, which I hope gives you a glimpse inside our lives.  Care to join me in raising awareness of Special Needs?  Post a blog, picture or tweet about it using the hashtag #TherapyThursday.  Feel free to post a link below in the comment section!  Remember that there are many different types of therapy- Occupational, Physical, Feeding, Speech Language and Behavioural to name a few.  I hope it will serve as yet another way to spread awareness of special needs!

From the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists

"Occupational therapy is the art and science of enabling engagement in everyday living, through occupation; of enabling people to perform the occupations that foster health and well-being; and of enabling a just and inclusive society so that all people may participate to their potential in the daily occupations of life (Townsend& Polatajko, 2007, p. 372)."