I have to admit that I have a new favorit show! I love Jon and Kate Plus 8. And I was watching the one that they were making Monkey Munch and got to thinking that we could make this GF,DF, and CF! So here it is! 

Monkey Munch from Jon and Kate Plus 8 Recipe #290434

20 min | 5 min prep

SERVES 18 , 9 cups

We loved it! It was fun for all of us to make. Everyone was able to help! And we are all able to eat it as well!

We hope you enjoy it!

Jessica

P.S. Thanks to Jon and Kate and all the kids!

I really need to get new ideas for meals? I am at a breaking point with eating the same things all the time and I am really missing the things I can’t have. And my poor husband, who is really trying to be supportive would love to eat something new!

So I am asking for some help! ANY ideas welcomed!

Thank you!

Jessica

So I have to tell this great story about what my daughter did last week.

First, I have to tell you that she LOVES rocks!

The girls Nana came down and stayed with us over night because Jeff and I had a Autism show to do. Nana have brought the girls little presents, our oldest got a book and our youngest who has PDD-NOS a box of rocks and a helicopter. The next day our oldest daughter went up to spend the night at her Grandparents house. This was hard for our youngest because she has never been away from big sister. So when they left there was a meltdown but not too bad.  We saw that our daughter was playing with four rock out of all the rocks she had gotten. She was saying something as she was lining them up on the table and so I asked her what she was doing.  She laid the first one out witch was the biggest and said that it was Daddy and then the next one was Mommy, then big sister and then her. All day she carried them around and played with them. To her that is how she delt with not having her sister. She had her sister rock!

Jessica

Again I am so sorry for not  writing sooner.

This will be a new category of my blog, A Mother’s Story.

Last week our youngest daughter was given the label PDD-NOS. Like I said before I work with kids who have special needs, I own a store for people with special needs, I grew up with special needs (A.D.D.) and now my daughter has special needs. What a different world it is. My feelings are so up and down with how to deal with this. I know the facts and the services but it’s “MY” child now. I have filled out all these papers for other people and now I find myself filling them out for my daughter. So now I need this blog to just let it all out.  It helps me to tell people what goes on and have them say , “I have been there” so I hope this might be that for someone else.

And for right now just saying she has special needs out loud is a great start!

I hope for this to be a place to share the joys and hard times on this road called life!

Jessica

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We did here, the weather was great.

Last night we had friends over for dinner and the best part is they brought the dinner! They wanted to share one of their favorite dishes and it was GF, DF, and CF. This meal was sooooooo great and it had flavor.

So here it is the recipe for Pakistani Kima:

Saute in large skillet (with or without a little oil); 1 green pepper, chopped (or substitute 1 cup onion,chopped) 1 clove of garlic, minced

Add: 1lb beef or turkey

Brown well, stir in: 1T curry powder, 1.5 t salt, very generous dash of each: pepper, cinnamon, ginger, tumeric:30 1 can / 2 cups of diced tomatoes- mostly drained, 2 potatoes, diced and 2 cups frozen peas

Cover and simmer 25 minutes. Serve over rice.

You have to try this one it is so great. and please let me know what you think.

Jessica

P.S. Thank you Sarah and Ryan for sharing this meal with us and now everyone out there!!!!

We have found Nana’s Cookie Bar to be one of the best cookies out there, it seems that they are free of everything. We like the Berry Vanilla and Nana Banana ones but there are more flavors, we just haven’t tried them. They aren’t as dry as most that we have tried.

Give them a try and let me know what you think. Let me know if there are any you have tried that you think are worth trying. I love new ideas! And I will share them.

Jessica

So sorry it has been so long, we have had a few bad days with our daughter who is on the diet. We are finding out how hard it is when there are people who aren’t on the diet in the same family , living in the same house. We have a divided house, two on the diet and two who are not on the diet. That has been very hard. My oldest LOVES milk and the youngest finds it. She doesn’t even like it but she tries it.

Here was our other problem. We found out the McDonald’s french fries have gluten and dairy in them after we were told that they didn’t by people who worked there. We found out from a friend of ours, she told me to look on their web site and there it was! It just shows how important it is to have a support system when dealing with this. And to look into things your self, you can’t be trusting that people who what they are talking about and that is sad and hard.

We are also looking at removing Soy from our daughters diet. What next???? Why not!!! My questions is what is she going to eat???

Tonight, I start a support group here in Rochester, MN for people who are on the diet. I really hope it goes well and I will keep everyone updated as I find out new things!

Thank you to the few people who have replied to me it really helps knowing that there are people out there who understand and want to talk about this.

Talk soon!

Jessica

Let me say, “Thank God for Hy-Vee grocery store”!!!!!!!!

I went their because my guide book said you could find a lot there for GF! First, they were right! There was a lot there but the guide book didn’t tell you about all the other reasons why you should go there. They are SO NICE THERE!!! Their is a smile everywhere you look and they all wanted to help me find anything I needed. They also said they would get ANYTHING in that I want to help my shopping and life on this diet(food related).  I use to go to three stores to find everything I needed, now I can just good to one place. What a time, money and sanity saver.  I felt to good leaving there!! I finally felt like I had choices.

If you have one around you please give it a try and help support stores that support us!

Jessica

I found a great guide to help me do my shopping! Triumph Dining’s,The Essential Gluten-Free Grocery Guide. I don’t go anywhere without it! It helps answer most of my questions about label reading!! I hate having to call the hot line # while I am in the store, who has that kind of time!

If you go to their web site you will find their books they are great on finding GF stuff.

Jessica

I have to say first and for most I  MISS CHEESE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am ready to fall off the wagon! I wanta cheeseburger sooooooooooooooooooo bad! This is such a test of will power. I know how I will feel if I would eat it but right now I want CHEESE!!!!! Any suggestions?

Jessica