We eat butter at our house.

Sometimes I make it spreadable, and store it in a tub in the fridge, but often we have a stick of butter out on the counter.

With lots of littles, that can be messy. They smear. They knock it off the little rectangle plate.

My solution? Flip it upside down. Now the butter top holds it all in, and the bottom plate can be used as a lid.

Works for me!

For more Works for Me Wednesday fun, go to Rocks in My Dryer!
For more Kitchen Tips, check out Tammy!

Labels: cooking, therapeutic diet, Works For Me Wednesday

I blogged recently about weird recipes. There is one recipe that sounded so inedible, I was loathe to try it. But I kept seeing it. Again and again and again. On Foodie blogs.

Roasted Kale. "It's better than potato chips!" commenters raved. "So good I ate the whole batch by myself!"

Yeah, right. I know marketing hype when I see it.

But... kale is good for you. But my kids don't like it (and most especially, my husband hates it.) But it's in season and therefore, cheaper than lettuce or bok choy.

I made it tonight for dinner, and everyone finished it off before the chicken hit the table. "I'd eat that every day if you made it!" husband dear said. And since I'm trying to sneak him back on that anti-inflammatory diet... I just might!

Try it - it really is good. And it's Feingold friendly - Heaven knows how tough it is to find snacks without artificial colors or MSG.

Crispy Kale
Tear a bunch of kale into bite sized pieces, removing the tough stems. Wash and dry. Toss with olive oil to lightly coat. Sprinkle in some kosher salt.

Put on a cookie sheet or in a roasting pan and bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Flip 'em over and roast 5-7 minutes longer. You want them crispy, but not brown.

Eat and enjoy!

Even the one year old ate it. That's a ringing endorsement!

For more Works for Me Wednesday, check out Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer!

And, oh yeah...
Vote for me at the Homeschool Blog Awards! And please, do NOT go to Pioneer Woman Cooks before you vote. Her blog is so much better than mine! ::wink::

Labels: cooking, health, therapeutic diet

How we avoid junk food.



Our local dollar store carries fruit!

I got 14 pears and 16 kiwis for less than $4.

Cantaloupe, $.99 each

Peaches, $.77/lb.

Oranges, 8/$1

This whole tray? Less than $8! It'll be gone by the end of the weekend, though. Big families are big fruit eaters.


I love summer!

BTW - that three tiered server is how I solved my problem with Baby C and fruit. I put stuff she CAN eat on the bottom, (or sometimes just onions and garlic) and the stuff she needs Mama for on the top. The whole thing sits on our kitchen island. Also, we moved to a house with better "flow", and the kitchen is not a small partitioned off room, so Mama can keep a closer eye on her.

Labels: Frugal, health, homemaking, therapeutic diet

I've heard that updating the new Mozilla will erase your bookmarks.

I thought I post a few of my "most important" ones here, where I can find them. I've said before that my blog is kind of a public journal for me, so consider this a really boring entry. Plus, I can throw some Linky Love to some of my favorite sites!

Although, many of them I don't even remember bookmarking - often if I am researching something and happen across something else, I bookmark it, and it languishes in my folder gathering cyber dust.

This is like letting your mother-in-law look under the bed or behind the fridge. It's surprisingly personal!

But, I'm really boring so you won't find too many titillating links. Unless you like vintage freebie printables.

Homemaking
Teaparty Girl
Household Notebook Planner
The Family Homestead
Vintage Homekeeper's Planner


School Organization
Starry Sky Ranch HMB forms etc.
Teacher Planning Forms
Unschooling and Planning
Homeschool Curriculum Reviews
Planning the School Year - Footprints on the Fridge
Dawn's File Folder System

Parenting
Small Manual of Civility Manners in the Catholic Home
HealthyToys.org
When Mom/Teacher Role doesn't work


Food
A Little Cookbook for Girls
Frugal Abundance
Practical Pantry everything you ever wanted to know about the staples
Whole Wheat Cinnamon Rolls
No Fail Pie Crust
Calcium Requirements

Catholic
Finding God liturgy and family life
Where is That in The Bible - essay on Tradition and Sola Scriptura
Sean's Pages - aplogetics
Hear the Gospel at Mass
Why Catholics Have a Pope
Catholic Culture
BibliaClerus Vatican resources, early Fathers, etc.
Women for Faith and Family
John 6 and the Eucharist
Catechism of Catholic Church searchable by keyword
Scriptural Rosary for Children
Amazing Catechists
Sanctifying Halloween

Religious Other
Evangelical Manifesto

Crunchy Granola Mama links
Natural Life Magazine
Healing Power of magnets - legitimate
Managing Post Partum Depression
Microchipping Public School Students
CFL Recycling
Drugs.com side effects, etc.

Self-Reliance
Solar Powered Trailer
Living off the Grid
100 Ft. Diet
Grow potatoes in a garbage can


Blog
Technorati Made Simple
Making Bloggy Buttons
Make Blog Banners totally need to do this. Someday. Eventually.
HTML True Color Chart

Coupons and Deals
Mommy Saves Big
Coupon Chief
Coupon Mom
Organic Grocery Deals
Online Coupons

Special Needs
Autism Evaluation Checklist
Anger Management for Children
Bipolar Complimentary Medicine
Disaboom for people with disabilities

Prolife and Politics
Sen. Obama's Voting Record
CQ Moneyline Campaign Finance, PAC's, etc.
Catholic Mom Framing the Healthcare Debate
REAL ID/ REAL nightmare
Girl Scouts Radicalism
No Room for Contraceptives
Prolife Doctors
Fighting P*rn*graphy
Test Tube Nation (article)

Stuff to Make and Do
Homemade Playdough with pics
3D Papercraft

Just Plain Interesting
Illegal Alien Tracking and crime statistics
Squalor Survivors
Texas Hold'Em Odds
Letterboxing North America

ClipArt and Graphics

Writing
Love Honor Vaccum Write from Home
Houston Writers and Editors
Absolute Write
Writer's Resources
Wordplayer
SimplyScripts

Of Interest Only to Me
SC Lawyer
Harrison Bergeron


If you liked any of these links, leave me note in the comments! (If you're not asleep by now...)

Labels: apologetics, bipolar, Blog, Catholic, children, cooking, education, Freebies, Frugal, homemaking, Linky love, politics, Prolife, special education, Special Needs, therapeutic diet, Working from Home

Puritan's Pride is having a sale on vitamins for Independence Day. Shipping is 76 cents, and Puritan brand vitamins are 70% off.

Choline is $2.69 for 100 capsules, and Inositol is just $2.99 per 100.

I know a few of my readers use (as do we) this so I'd pass along the info!

Labels: bipolar, health, therapeutic diet

Basic cooking skills sure do come in handy.

For example, if you can make a basic white sauce, you can make darn near anything! It makes a great substitution for Cream of Crud soup, which Mr R can't have anyway due to MSG. It's healthier, too! If you have no skillz, never fear. You can cheat with a microwave.

Mr R can't have food colors. Kids like macaroni and cheese, which is full of Yellow #5 and #6. I buy the organic variety - half price at Big Lots - but it still takes 3 boxes to make lunch for the kids, and at .80 - $1 each that adds up! What's a miserly Mama wise mistress of resources to do?

I figured out how to make it myself, cheaper and tastier, on the stovetop. It takes about the same amount of time as the box stuff, but you will dirty one extra measuring cup.

You will need: (Equivalent of three blue boxes of noodles and chemical powder.)

• Three (7 oz.) packages of macaroni noodles or shells. $.75 (Look in the Latin foods section! Pasta is cheaper there. Two 7 oz. packages of noodles for $.50 vs. 1 16 oz. box for $1 of the store brand stuff. Plus, they have alphabet noodles for soup!)

• 1 c. of milk (.20, if milk is $3/gallon)

• 1/4 c. all purpose flour ($.02)

• 4 oz. cheese ($.95, if cheese is $3.80 per pound) Sharp cheese gives you more flavor, and therefore more bang for the buck.

Total cost (feeds 6-8 hungry children and their Mama) $1.92

Boil the noodles.

While the noodles are boiling, put 1 cup of milk in an microwaveable measuring cup (I use a 2 cup Pyrex). Add the flour, and microwave for 60 seconds, then stir. Repeat 2 more times.

When noodles are done, drain them. Return noodle pot to stove. Add milk mixture (pour through a sieve if it seems lumpy). Heat on low until mix thickens (it might be thick enough already, depending on how powerful your microwave is.) Do not boil!

Turn off stove. Add cheese. Stir until it's melty. Add noodles back to pot. Mix.

Enjoy!

This would be slightly cheaper if you used powdered milk; you could double the powder for added calcium and protein. Add in leftover ham, chicken, or veggies so you don't have to clean out the fridge waste any food.

To make a ONE BOX version, use 1 package noodles, 1/3 c. milk, 2 Tbs. flour, and a handful of cheese until it tastes good to you. Total cost? Less than 50 cents.

Check out Rocks In My Dryer for more Works for Me Wednesday goodies!

Labels: cooking, Frugal, therapeutic diet, Works For Me Wednesday

Mr R cannot have food dyes.

He will not swallow pills.

Every children's remedy I've ever seen is inexplicably dyed neon purple, fuschia, or orange. Why? It doesn't make it taste any better.

This adds up to a perfect storm when Mr R is sick. He's miserable and whiny. How bad does he feel? Is it worth the risk of giving him Red #40 in order to bring down that fever?

Last week I broke down and gave him some Tylenol chewables. He didn't flip out, but he did regress about four years. He happily played with a toy firetruck for hours, making siren noises and running it back and forth on the carpet. He's nine.

I was bemoaning this fact to my sister, who found Dye Free Children's Motrin for me! Hallelujah!

A couple of handy sites for those with sick children:
Tylenol Children's Dosing Chart

Motrin Children's Dosing Chart


For more tips, go see Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer!

Art by Mary Evans

Labels: health, therapeutic diet, Works For Me Wednesday

I posted a while back that husband dear grudgingly agreed is trying out an anti-inflammatory diet. He had been having severe muscle pain in one leg, as well as numbness and tingling in his fingertips.

After three weeks, he successfully gave up Coca-Cola (a love affair that lasted for years) and actually lost 5 pounds! (This is not a weight loss diet, so that was a happy side effect!) Also, his limp is gone.

Here are the bare bones of the plan:

Eat:
Low fat or no-fat dairy, esp. cultured dairy
soy products (tofu, edamame, tempeh)
fish (esp. sardines and salmon)
avocados
nuts
whole grains
green leafy veggies
sweet potatoes
root vegetables (parsnips, turnips, rutabagas, etc.)
fresh or frozen veggies (not canned)
berries
pumpkin seeds
flax seeds
canola oil
olive oil

Avoid:
corn oil
High Fructose Corn Syrup
fried foods
hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fats
trans fats
canned food (except tomatoes)
peanuts
White, floury potatoes (small waxy potatoes are okay)
artificial sweeteners such as aspartame or saccharin
artificial colors
MSG
Lunchmeat, hotdogs containing nitrates and nitrites

Cut back on:
Red meat (unless very lean)
White flour
White sugar
White rice
Basically, refined grains and carbs.
Corn and peas

Drink:
water
green tea
unsweetened fruit juices

If no improvement after a month, eliminate fruits and veggies from the Nightshade family - eggplant, potatoes, and tomatoes.

Supplements we are using:
Vitamin C (1000 mg)
Vitamin E (400 IU, natural mixed tocopherols)
Selenium (200 mcg)(works with vitamin E)
Fish oil
Aspirin (81 mg.)
Ginger

Other supplements recommended:
Turmeric (aka curcurmin)
CoQ10 (60-100 mg with largest meal)
Alpha lipoleic acid 100-400 mcg.
Folic acid (400 mcg)
Vitamin D (no iron formula) 1000 IU

Recommended proportions for men:
40-50% carbs
30% fat
20-30% protein

I'm not so nifty as to plan out what percentage of carbs each meal has. We just try to follow the guidlines. I bought a bag of pre-frozen chicken breasts and make those for his lunch if we don't have leftovers.

Sample Day for husband dear #1:
Breakfast:
Simple Harvest hot cereal (so good!)

Lunch:
Grilled chicken breast (we've got a little George Foreman grill)
Topped with garlic and diced tomatoes
Brown rice
Leftover veggies like broccoli, spinach, etc.

Dinner:
Lentil enchiladas
Spanish rice (brown rice again)
Beans (Well, I serve them but he doesn't really eat them.)

Snacks:
Red pepper, green pepper sticks
Orange
Tangerine
Golden delicious apple
Mango
Cucumber/Onion summer salad
Zipfizz Energy drink (these are a powder I get at Sam's Club. It's better than Coke and actually full of vitamins thrown in with the caffeine.) (Then again, anything is probably better than Coke!)

Sample #2:
Breakfast
Orange (He doesn't eat breakfast. This is probably the hardest change for him.)
Blueberry Muffin (I figured out how to make a tasty, healthy one with less than half a gram of fat in each one. It does have sugar, though.)

Lunch:
Whole wheat pita, spread with Laughing Cow Garlic cheese
3 oz. turkey lunchmeat (all natural, no nitrates) (Holy Cow! That stuff is expensive!)
Baby spinach leaves, red onions.

Dinner:
Stir fry (tofu)
"Fried" rice with veggies (using a little sesame oil) (I've learned that brown rice doesn't really make a good fried rice, but he likes the mix ins and change from plain steamed brown rice.)

Snacks:
The same! Fruits and veggies. Yes, he'll eat 5-6 pieces of fruit per day. Also cheese sticks are popular. He loves cheese, and a cheese stick has great portion control.

We've started eating 3-4 non-meat meals a week, which is so hard for him as he's definitely a carnivore. He's trying hard!

Labels: cooking, health, therapeutic diet

I found a new website called Mambo Sprouts, which collates coupons for organic/health foods. Since I found a local EarthFare, and plan to at least once a month, I signed up for their e-mail newsletter.

I was quite interested to find they had a recipe section. I found a promising sounding recipe, "Pasta with Spinach Pesto Sauce" - I love me some spinach, and so do the kids (it's our favorite veggie around here, I have to cook a double portion).

We eat a lot of pasta, and I'm always looking for new ideas, especially if I can make it meatless or nearly so.

Here's the recipe:

Pasta with Spinach Pesto

Ingredients:
1 package EDEN Organic Vegetable Spirals, cooked
1 can EDEN Organic Diced Tomatoes with Green Chilies, drained
1 can EDEN Organic Navy Beans or any EDEN precooked bean, drained
3/4 cup artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1/3 cup capers
Dressing
1/4 cup EDEN Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. EDEN Red Wine Vinegar
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp. EDEN Sea Salt


Preparation:
Cook pasta according to package directions. Rinse and drain. Prepare vegetables and dressing. Combine. Add pasta just before serving

Notice anything missing? Like, spinach?

Anyone have a great pasta recipe that is not meat, cream sauce, or tomato based, and doesn't require $12 worth of basil and pine nuts to make? Let me in on your secret!

Labels: cooking, therapeutic diet

This blog is my journal and record, of sorts... one that I know will not get lost in a move or milk spilled on it! Some thoughts to keep for posterity:

Baby X had sweet potatoes for the first time yesterday. We are expecting orange poop anytime now, at which point we will learn about the digestive system in Science class.

Our school has a name: St. Joseph Academy for Wayward Children. It makes me laugh when I get my teacher freebies in the mail.

I changed Mr R's supplement from ZincKing to RhinoZinc, because the taste was too strong. He is supposed to take two RhinoZincs, but usually only actually gets one. No change noticed so far - maybe he is ready for a smaller dose.

Mr R's current supplementation program: one Tall Tree, one RhinoZinc, one Coromega; two Inositol and two Choline mixed with applesauce, to give him:

1300 mg. Inositol, for anxiety and impulse control
620 mg. Choline, for rages/mood swings/impulse control
650 mg. long chain fatty acids because... that comes with the Coromega
350 mg. EPA
230 mg. DHA (fish oil is for mood stability/decreased mood lability) (Total 1230 mg. Omega 3 Fatty acids)
7 mg. Zinc (down from 12 mg.)
5 mg B6
10 mcg B12
5 mg B2
5 mg B1

The B and Zinc are for pyroluria. Sometimes he gets 3 Inositols (1950 mg.) on weekends when schedules are disrupted, and sometimes acidophilus as needed.

Labels: bipolar, Family Life, therapeutic diet

I would like to share something that has enhanced our lives tremendously: Fish Oil.

Also known as Omega-3 Fatty acids, found in flax seeds and oily fish such as anchovies, mackerel, tuna and salmon, Omega-3's have been clinically shown to reduce depression, reverse heart disease, and enhance moods.

Researchers have found that people with high Omega-3 intakes actually show changes in their brain structure - with more volume dedicated to regions controlling positive emotions and mood regulation.

Mr. R won't take capsules, so I buy Coromega, which is orange pudding in a packet. Link is to the best price I've found. We pay about $60 for 90 days of supplement supplies (zinc, fish oil, multivitamin, choline, inositol) The antipsych meds we were on cost $185 for a 30 day supply. Works for me!

Need more convincing? Read these:
Omega 3's and ADHD
Fish Oil and Nursing Moms
The Mayo Clinic weighs in
Newstarget has lots of news about Omega-3's

A side note:
Bipolar and schizophrenic patients should not get Omega-3's from flax oil. Flax contains ALA, which can induce mania; BP'ers should stick to DHA and EPA. Those Omega-6 and Omega-3 combo supplements you see on the shelf? Skip them - Americans are not deficient in Omega-6's!

You can read the origins of our path to nutritional supplements instead of antipsychotic medication here.

Labels: bipolar, health, therapeutic diet, Works For Me Wednesday

Our dinky city paper actually had something worthwhile printed in it last weekend (can you tell I just subscribe for the coupons and the ads?)

There was an excellent set of articles about Autism - one in 150 children in South Carolina have been diagnosed.

The first article related to the fact that insurance rarely picks up the cost of ABA or other therapies (aside from occupational and speech). Legislation that would require coverage is pending and stagnating in Colombia. Autism and mental health are notoriously not covered by insurance or poorly covered - my own plan will cover 30 mental health visits per year - that includes all psychologists, therapists, etc. One could easily go through 15-20 visits just getting an accurate diagnosis, with all of the varied tests required to rule things out. I don't know what would happen if we had an actual crisis that required more visits - there is a terrible shortage of child psychologists in our country, and many won't even file insurance. They don't have to, they are so in demand. It is not unusual for a child psych to have a 6-8 month waiting list just to be evaluated. In the meantime, these children are losing months and years of their lives untreated and possibly abused or maligned by their family, their school, their community because of their behavior which often looks like brattiness.

The second article reflected an alternate approach, profiling one mom who discovered that her child was sensitive to aluminum (which is present in many vaccines and just one reason that many believe there is a vaccine/autism link). Testing for heavy metal poisoning at a clinic not too far away from our town revealed high levels, and sure enough when Mom changed the diet by scrutinizing food labels and started filtering the water, the child improved - from non-verbal to a normal kid. I'm definitely going to see about getting Mr. R into this guy, as our other doctors are reluctant to order these kinds of tests (and a doctor's order is required for insurance payment. They are too expensive for me to have done on my dime right now.)

On another related note, researchers have discovered that often autistic children have certain abnormal infant reflexes - and are developing a simple screening test that could be given even before one year of age. Early intervention, indeed.

Labels: children, health, therapeutic diet, vaccines

I make my own garlic oil. I'm not sure how long fresh garlic oil is good for, but I keep it for about a month or so.

I put maybe 1/4 c. olive oil in a pan, and put it in a slightly bigger pot of boiling water. Be careful the water doesn't get into the oil pot.

I take a few cloves of garlic, smush them with the end of my ice cream scooper (because we're fancy like that around here - use a garlic press if you're Martha Stewart gene can't handle improvisation) and put them in the cold oil, skins, stems and all. Oh, you're garlic doesn't have green shoots? Well, maybe our garlic sits around for a little while... (Note: Garlic powder will not work)

Let the oil warm up in the double boiler for about an hour, more or less. I don't know how hot the oil gets; it gets hot but not boiling hot. You don't want to actually cook the garlic, you'll kill the good stuff called allicins, that do the healing.

I strain it through a coffee filter into a little bowl or coffee mug (use a glass one - so much easier to clean the oil out of and won't absorb the garlic smell!) You know, whatever's clean in the cupboard.

The I put it in one of these bottles, which I order when I order my kids' vitamins. I use natural vitamins because Super Spiderman chewables are full of fake food coloring. This site has the cheapest vitamins and supplements I've found anywhere! The Coromega Mr. R takes costs $19.98 for 90 packets - it's over $40 at the health food store.

I've also heard of people make garlic oil by cutting an onion in half, scooping out the middle to form a bowl, and placing in a small pan of water. Fill the onion hollow with the oil and garlic, and simmer (add more water if needed). Throw the onion away when you're done.

Anyway, these little glass dropper bottles cost less than $1.50 each. I have one I use for the garlic oil, and a couple of others I use for the kid's school work. This Montessori exerise will entertain them for hours, and help them develop handwriting muscles! Use a baster first, the eyedropper next. Another favorite activity is putting drops of water into indentations - I use those suction cup shapes for the bottom of the tub, but turn them over so the suckers are facing you - Mr. S puts one drop of water in each suction cup. Water crackers, Ritz crackers, or other dimpled food works as well.

And don't forget the old "markers on a coffee filter, put drops of water on it" art project!

I also have some links to several home remedy sites for your general education (just remember that these are tried by amateurs at home - you might take it with a grain of salt) but please e-mail me if you want them, because several of these sites support themselves with advertisements that are NOT family friendly, so I won't directly link with my blog. I get enough of that stuff in my spam folder, thank you very much.

Labels: education, Frugal, health, Montessori Mondays, therapeutic diet

Here's just a quick Montessori Monday today. The kids are home from school because of President's Day, so I'm just going to leave a couple of links.

This mom homeschools her autistic daughter with Sensory Integration Disorder - they also have a special diet (no apples, almonds, or eggs in their case). She uses Ambleside Online, which is an online Charlotte Mason curriculum and free!

Aut-2-Bhomeincarolina

Her three part series on Masterly Inactivity is worth a look! Masterly Inactivity is to Charlotte Mason what observation is to Montessori - basically, hand off! Let them do it themselves!

In The Montessori Method, Dr. Montessori noted that her classrooms were structured much like a music lesson. When a child goes to a class to learn to play the piano, the instructor will help him seat himself on the bench, assist in the placement of the hands, teach him how to correspond the notes on the page with the keys, and then he will leave him to it. The student will play, or attempt to play, the music on his own. The maestro will observe, noting if more work is needed on reading music, on the tempo, etc. A musical student will play the same piece until it is mastered.

A Montessori classroom is similar. The directress will supply a prepared environment for the children to learn. She will use the three-period lesson to introduce children to concepts and connect it with language. And then she will leave the children to it, all the while observing and noting if she needs to introduce a concept again, if they are ready to be introduced to the next work, and so on. The child will continue to pursue the same work until it is mastered - and the child decides what level of perfection constitutes mastery.

Note: when introducing the Three Period lesson, the first lesson, naming, always includes two contrasts. Red and Blue would be presented together, small and big, wet and dry. Montessori believed that the contrast helped with the memory work. Also, much care should be taken to isolate the quality you are introducing.
So, to introduce red and blue, one should use two objects exactly the same (i.e., square wooden blocks). The only difference should be the color. Using, say, a red rubber ball and a blue plastic spoon could be confusing - does red mean "rubber"? "toy"? "round"? "bouncy"? Does blue mean "utensil"? "plastic"? "something you put in your mouth"?

She would often isolate the senses using a blindfold, especially for non-visual sensory introductions, such as weight, noises, temperature. For example, blindfolding a child and placing their hand in cold water, then warm water. (She only used the blindfold when teaching developmentally normal children. She found that children with mental handicaps (called 'deficients' in her day by the medical establishment) were not able to use the blindfold well)

Labels: education, Montessori Mondays, therapeutic diet

Or, Who Needs A Claymation Hand when You've Got a Plan?

Today, a recipe: Make your own Hamburger Helper. It's so easy, and you'll be kicking yourself for spending $2-3 on those little boxes of chemicals all these years! You can also make this gluten free by using chinese rice noodles and cornstarch.

We can't eat MSG or food dyes, and we would be a 3 box family by now, so this really saves money and health.

Hamburger Helper is basically meat, sauce, and noodles. The sauce usually comes in a powdered form, and is highly processed so that all you have to do is add water. I use egg noodles (plain, yolk free, whole wheat - whatever floats your boat) or no bake lasagna noodles, broken up, work well too. Now you know what to do with those crushed pieces in the bottom of the box! You can scale this up or down: the ratios are roughly 1 lb. ground meat, 8 oz. egg noodles, 16 oz. of sauce (that's two cups). But since YOU are in charge here, not Betty Crocker, you can make it noodlier, saucier, or meatier. Allow 1-1/2 oz. noodles for each adult portion and 4 oz. of uncooked meat.

Basic recipe
Brown the meat (sometimes I get sassy and use ground sausage. I always use ground turkey or turkey sausage, it's cheaper, healthier, and once you throw all the other stuff in you can't tell the difference). Add some chopped up onions if you've got them. Drain it to reduce fat (dump meat in colander, rinse with hot water, dump back in pan.)

I usually use half an onion in a recipe, but I'm lazy, too, so I sometimes chop the entire thing and save half in a sandwich baggie so I only have to wash the knife and cutting board once. Save money on soap, too!

Now, add sauce:
For Lasagna style, add 1 jar of spaghetti sauce, which I get free with coupons or buy the WalMart brand, for $1.00/16 oz. jar. I can't make this same amount of marinara sauce for cheaper than that! My family's big, so I brown 2 lbs. meat and add 2 jars of sauce, or 1 jar sauce and 1 large can of crushed tomatoes. I like the crushed tomatoes, it is thicker than tomato sauce but doesn't have chunks like diced tomatoes. Add garlic and italian seasoning to taste.

For Cheeseburger style, put about a cup of beef broth per pound of meat in a measuring cup. Add a spoonful of flour or cornstarch. Flour will give you brown gravy, cornstarch will give you a translucent sauce; use a small spoon if you go with the cornstarch. Mix it up with a fork until there are no lumps. Pour it into the skillet and bring to a boil.

For Taco style, drain 1 can of diced tomatoes into a measuring cup (15 oz. size). Add beef broth to make 1 cup, add flour, dump broth and tomatoes into pot. Add garlic and cumin, and maybe a spoonful or two of salsa if you prefer. Bring to a boil. (You can add a can of corn or whole pinto beans if you need to stretch it, or make it meatless. Use the bean juice and corn water from the can instead of adding water.)

For Stroganoff, make it like the cheeseburger style at this point, using milk instead of broth. Or use 1/3 dried milk powder mixed into 1 c. broth . Or, you can add in canned mushrooms; drain into a measuring cup and add milk to make a cup. I don't buy canned mushrooms, because they are pretty much expensive and tasteless. I buy dehydrated mushrooms at the Chinese food store (not shiitake, just generic dried mushrooms). You put them in a bowl, add boiling water, and let them sit. Much tastier, easier to store, and you get tasty mushroom water to use instead. Of course, that takes some of the convenience out of the hamburger helper style meal. Put a dash of Worcestershire sauce in if your family like it.

Bring meat and sauce to a boil, stirring often. (For stroganoff, make it a gentle simmer - don't want to have burned milk taste!)

Add the noodles and stir them in. Add more water if needed, so the noodles mix well into the sauce (note: it should not cover the noodles. You are not making soup Just enough water that you can mix the noodles in easily without a lot of clumping or your spoon getting stuck.)

Cover and continue to simmer, stirring often, until the noodles are soft (15 minutes or so down here at sea level for 16 oz. of noodles).

Now, top it off:
Lasagna style, turn off the stove and stir in some ricotta or cottage cheese, or I just sprinkle shredded mozzarella on top. Serve.

Cheeseburger, reduce heat to low, add a handful of cheddar cheese, and stir it in until it melts. Turn stove off, sprinkle more cheese on top, and serve.

Taco, turn off stove, top with cheese - monterey jack, pepper jack, or queso fresco are good choices. Serve.

Stroganoff, reduce heat to very low. Add a couple of big spoonfuls of sour cream and stir into mixture. Cook gently until heated through - do not boil! You can use non-fat plain yogurt as well, but it has a more acidic taste so it won't taste like true stroganoff.

I like this recipe because it is a true pantry recipe (except the stroganoff). Everything can be stocked and stored on a shelf, (My freezer is part of my pantry, so the meat counts as a pantry item too!) It cooks up in one pot. It's quick, convenient, and you can make it without meat for vegetarians or meatless Fridays. (Just add some sort of bean or tofu for protein.) You can easily make it fat free, or whole grain; it works as an organic recipe or regular; you can use stuff from your garden or from cans; you can use up your leftover spaghetti sauce or noodles; you can easily hide veggies in here for picky kids (shredded zucchini, carrots, smushed up white beans... )

Works for me!

Labels: cooking, Frugal, therapeutic diet, Works For Me Wednesday

I would be, anyway, if I had a medical license.

This post has been percolating for a while, but I'm finally going to post it in the hopes that it will help someone else. I'll be including links, so you can read and evaluate for yourself. Remember, use your critical thinking skills and to note the source! Is it an independent study, a nutritional supplement trying to sell vitamins, a pharmaceutical website hoping you don't take vitamins? Some of the studies are very clinical and quite dry reading... take them in small doses!

My son was diagnosed with early-onset bipolar disorder (used to be called Manic Depression). He was on a prescription antipsychotic for
6 months. Now, his illness is managed solely by nutrition and supplements. Here's the story.

He's only been off the meds for 4 weeks, but his behavior scores at school have actually increased.

(Bipolar disorder - wikipedia)
(Bipolar disorder in children)
(Nutrition and biplar disorder)

Before everyone jumps into the comments to flame me about bipolar kids, please know that I am not one of those moms that makes excuses for every little thing her kids do. My discipline is a mix of James Dobson, common sense, and St. John Bosco. With a little Dr. Ray thrown in. I truly, truly believe that many cases of "A.D.H.D." stem from institutionalized education designed for girls and not little boys, for auditory learners, not kinesthetic, and from bright children who are bored while they wait for slower kids, who happen to be the same chronological age and not the same intellectual ability.
I am the second oldest of eight children, the youngest of whom was born when I was in High School. I worked my way through high school babysitting, and taking nanny jobs in the summer. The church I attended was full of large families. I have 6 kids. My dear son acted like no child I've ever seen. Except maybe Linda Blair, when he was really mad. It was not that he was high spirited (he is), strong willed (he is), very creative (yep), with poor impulse control (pre-pubescent boy, what do you expect?). It was way more than that. It was not something that could be cured by a good thrashing, more discipline, or relaxing the rules. It was not a rebellion against authority, or a passing bad attitude. My other children were completely different, and normal parenting things worked with them. Not dear son.

At age 4, I decided there was NO WAY the kid would make it in a public school. There was also no way we could afford to put him in a private school. So I started my doomed attempt at homeschooling him. We started with "This is A. It says /a/."

When he was 5, we removed all of the furniture and the light fixture from his room.

When he was 6, we removed the bed as well. He would sleep underneath it because he liked the closed in spaces and was that terrified of his closet. He still didn't get that A made the /a/ sound, after two intense years of collages and flashcards and letter theme days and "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons". This was a big lesson God taught me. I learned to read when I was 4, and thought that children who couldn't read by kindergarten had lazy moms. How I could ever have been that judgemental, I'll never know. But I was a snob in that department.

When he was 7, I sought treatment for an eating disorder - his eating disorder. He would eat everything in the house (raw spaghetti noodles, too). Then, he would say he was so fat he wanted to die. He told me if he saw a car driving down the road, he would jump in front of it so it would squish him. Then he wouldn't have to be fat. The child was small for his age, and you could count his ribs if he did a backbend. We put grates on his windows so he couldn't climb out or break them. We had padlocks on the pantries and a bicycle chain on the fridge. Turns out he didn't have an eating disorder. He has BiPolar disorder (BP). I was glad to finally get his diagnosis, since I had come to that conclusion independently based on my own research.

Also at age 7, he began attending a small private school with his brother. He was in a mixed Kindergarten/First grade classroom. His brother, a newly minted 6 year old, was in Kindergarten - and my son was placed there as well. Brother made progress - his teacher called him a model student. My BP son would have failed Kindergarten, except I withdrew him early because of a lot of complicated politics at the church. He was there on scholarship - my family has been associated with that church for quite a while, and although I didn't attend the parish, my brother, landlord, and several friends did. I cleaned the school twice a month and volunteered as part of tuition, as well. My son's first grade teacher, in her sixties and truly a gifted educator, agreed with me that something was seriously wrong.

Before he started school that year, I took him to our priest for a special blessing. Not quite a full exorcism, which requires an investigation and the approval of the bishop, but one step down from that. I really do think I explored every option. (well, I didn't do past life regression. I said I'm a quack, not stupid and crazy.) I read all manner of books, prayed, slipped Scripture verses under his pillow. Husband annointed the house with oil and rebuked Satan. (He's a Baptist turned non-denominational).

I had him tested by the local school district, who gave him the ironic label of "Significantly Identifiable Emotional Disability". I say ironic, because they did not identify the emotional disability, just called him SIED. But he did qualify for services, which, in that rural district and through the private school, was going to consist of twice weekly sessions with a social worker to work on self esteem issues.

I declined, and was then accused of child abuse. It seems that putting dear son in the shower to help snap him out of his 6 hour rages is abusive. I thought not giving your child a bath was abusive, but I guess I'm not a trained social worker. A child voluntarily taking a bath is ok. Making them do it is not. Go figure. I think it's because the school district, one ofthe less affluent, wasn't going to get their federal funds for my son unless they provided some sort of service for him, and they were trying to pressure me. Ha! I am not easily pressured, swayed, or influenced. I believe I am what people call mule-headed.

Anyway, throughout all of this, I was working 2 jobs, then 1 job, had a baby, and spent several months with my husband working out of state to support us. Still seeking treatment through the medical establishment. Finally getting a diagnosis. My husband and I made the decision to put dear son, age 7, on antipsychotic medication. A dangerous proposition, especially as this was an off-label use (that medication has been approved for use in autistic children over this summer, however). However, bipolar disorder has a 15% fatality rate (from suicide), not counting shortened lifespans from alcohol abuse, drug abuse, and risk taking behaviors, which BP's do at an astronomical rate. He had already talked about killing himself, and we ended up having to lock the knives up for a while, with the food, since I kept finding them in his room. Remember, this kid was a scrawny 7 year old, not a troubled teen!

A few weeks went by. Dear son, always the special one, will not take medicine or pills. Those little Triaminic strips were my lifeline when he's snotty! Unfortunately, they don't come dye free, but then again, he hasn't been sick since we started the supplements and probiotics, so maybe he's finally getting a healthy immune system. He's also the biggest wimp. So, we figured out how to put the pills in a spoonful of applesauce - sometimes several spoonfuls - and tweaked the dose and the timing. The medication made him more normal. Able to stop himself before he got mad- and when he got mad, it was all over. Could be 4-6 hours before he was coherent again, another 2-3 before he was a little boy again. He had those rages several times a week. He is about 18 months to 2 years behind in emotional development, plays better with 6 year olds than 8 or 9 year olds, and I think a large part of this is the time he missed when he was raging. He would rarely remember anything that happened, would express surprise at broken toys, would ask me what happened to the wall... he literally had 15-20 hours a week of his entire life missing.

The medication gave our family a break. It allowed my spirit, as well as his, to heal. I had a heart for my son again. I had been praying for years - literally - to love him the way I do now. So much damage is done, however, when I would spend hours holding him in the basket weave hold while he thrashed and spit and bit and said all manner of nasty things. Everything was on hold all of the time because of him. Property was damaged, meals destroyed, siblings caught in the crossfire, and many trips were not taken. Family relationships were affected as many thought I was too easy, should spank him more, needed to crack down, needed to be consistent. Even though my other children were turning out pretty good. Others in my family thought I needed to lighten up, relax, give the kid a break. I couldn't win for losing. My dear son also developed quite and acrimonious relationship with his grandmother -but a detailed look into her family relationships will probably never appear on this blog!

The meds helped us heal, and allowed us to get on with our lives. I took dear son out of school in April. He turned 8, I quit my job and was home with him, again trying the homeschooling to catch him up. Husband went out of state for 7 weeks, we moved across the country, and dear son started in a wonderful special education program at the public school. His class has 5 students, 2 adults (teacher and assistant), and is designed specifically for children who are behind grade level due to emotional/mood problems. It is truly a godsend! Everything I love about dear sons class, however, I hate about Son #2's. I believe I've ranted previously about Everyday Math and invented spelling, so on with the BP story.

The medication sabbatical, and a training system detailed in "Transforming the Difficult Child: The Nurtured Heart Approach", really helped us get our feet back under us. The credit system from the book has since been dropped, but it allowed him to see he could do better. It allowed me to replace my mental image of him, to see he could do well, even excel, be normal, have a conversation. It was exactly what we needed. However, I wasn't comfortable giving him this medication for life. There are serious side effects, including heart disease, high cholesterol, and long term use can cause diabetes. I kept looking for a better way.

I had been searching for answers for him for years. Through lots of research, I settled on a plan. At first, I banned sugar. Turns out the real problem was the fake food dyes that sugary kid treats contained. Now he can eat sugar - as long as it's in something natural! Lucky for him, his SAHM is taking up baking again.

Now, his diet is no artificial food dyes (Red #40, Yellow #5, Blue Lake, etc.). No MSG. No petroleum based preservatives (BHT/BHA/TBHQ). They put those things in the bag that keeps cereal fresh! Should we really eat these? No artificial sweeteners. I use Equal to kill fire ant mounds in my yard. Again, can this possibly be healthy? I've got a ton of links, and books, that helped me come to this conclusion - you are what you eat, and what you don't eat. I'll try to post them sometime in the future. I also am making my way through my 6th bout of Gestational Diabetes, so nutrition and health is very interesting to me.

(Side effects of food additives)
(Links to studies on apartame)
(Links to studies on MSG)
(More on MSG)
(Anecdotal evidence, plus recipes and resources)
(The Straight Dope on MSG) (this is like Snopes.com)
(Studies on BHA/BHT/TBHQ)

Next, I treated him for a condition known as Pyroluria. It's standard to treat BP people in the Netherlands for this, but in America, big Pharma would never allow that! I'm down on the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA, and my skepticism grows everyday - again, that's another story (did you know a major sponsor of the American Diabetic Association is Hershey? And Cadbury-Schweppes, the creme egg people?). Now, pyroluria is a vitamin deficiency - like scurvy or rickets. Specifically, it is a B vitamin deficiency, and usually zinc too (B vitamins and zinc are linked in their metabolizing process). Often, there is a copper toxicity. Too much copper displaces the zinc. There is a simple urine test for this, but it costs $70 and I haven't had it done. In one study, interestingly, almost 7o% of schizophrenic patients, and 80% of alcoholics were diagnosed with pyroluria, and their symptoms improved or disappeared once they started taking the vitamins! Alcoholism and bipolar are well known to be co-morbid, that is, appearing together, and the current theory is that many bipolar people use alcohol to self medicate.

(Pyroluria)
(Treatment history and results)
(Natural treatments for pyroluria)

We also supplement with omega-3 fatty acids. Even American studies have shown that in addition to heart health, these important nutrients increase focus, help alleviate depression, and stabilize mood.
Throw in some acidophilus - yeah, the stuff in yogurt that you take so you don't get a yeast infection - to cure his burpy/fart problem. That's it.

Now, the kid, as I mentioned, would probably die before swallowing a pill, so I searched high and low and found chewables without food dyes in them for the B vitamins and Zinc, and he takes Coromega, which is like a spoonful of orange pudding in a little packet. Acidophilus is naturally chewable.

That's the story of our journey into, and out of psych meds. I'll try to keep this updated with links to my other, future posts where I detail my sources, research, and anecdotes.

We are successfully treating bipolar disorder through nutrition. Dear son can read at grade level now, and is in a mainstream classroom for math and science. He loves school and gets good reports and progress reports. He knows many sounds for A - apple, father, ate, and the silent one - read (past tense). He is teaching himself cursive (so he can read my notes to his teacher, I suspect!) and also teaching himself to draw from books and online tutorials.

He's a regular kid again! Thanks be to God.

Books that helped tremendously: (plug it into my Amazon link on the right side to be taken to ordering info and reviews)

No Greater Love, by Mother Teresa

The Explosive Child, by Dr. Ross Greene

The Myth of the ADD Child (and 50 ways to help them), by Thomas Armstrong

Eating Well for Optimum Health, Dr. Andrew Weil

The Strong Willed Child, Dr. James Dobson (didn't help with dear son, but sure did for brother #2 and sister #3!); The Difficult Child, by Stanley Turecki

The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas A Kempis

The Joy of Cooking, by Irma Rombauer. (The old one, not the new 2006 one. The new one uses things like cream of mushroom soup - can't do that if you're avoiding MSG! The old one tells you how to make everything from scratch. I got mine new in 1997.

Transforming the Difficult Child, The Nurtured Heart Approach by Howard Glasser I was truly desperate to try this approach, but something had to give. I thought it was a miracle short term, we used it for 3 months when I was home alone and husband was out of state. It helped us "reset" our expectations, and our other discipline works very well now.


Tags: Family Life, Nutrition, Special Needs, Bipolar, Mama Says

Labels: bipolar, Family Life, health, special education, Special Needs, therapeutic diet