Moving our Blog

I am relocating my blogs, I am sad to leave blogger but since there is no import or export feature I was not going to be able to merge my 2 blogs into 1 without a lot of work on my part coping and pasting.  I have set up a new blog using Wordpress.  My new blog is a family blog that incorporates everything that I was writing about on my other two blogs.   The new blog is called Clan Grant.  For now I thought it best to just focus on one blog since most of the things I write about are about my life and my family.  Clan Grant is shiny and new I hope you stop by for a visit.

Crazy

I have not posted in awhile because life here has been a little bit crazy.  We took a vacation a few weeks ago and where gone for a week and then there was the pre-vacation week of packing and shopping for what we needed.  Since we have been home we have mostly been working on acclimating back to home life and adoption stuff.  We have been waiting for some much needed paperwork and I think that this week we will get some of it, we can't move forward without it:(. I have been pretty busy around here which has left little to no time to blog.  

Garden Update:

My small garden out back is actually doing really well, I have gotten several crops of lettuce and some small crops of carrots, beans and tomatoes.  My cucumber is not doing that much, I think the pot is too small.  My other garden which I don't think I have mentioned is at a public/private garden plot.  I am sharing the 14'x26' plot with a friend and it is growing really fast, both veggies and weeds:) We planted pumpkin, eggplant, beans, squash, zucchini, basil, tomatoes, lettuce, beets, radishes, some flowers and maybe cucumber.  The larger plants like pumpkin, zuc and squash are totally taking over the back half of the garden, maybe we will do a little less of that next year.  This year has been a really fun experiment, we are hoping to get the same plot next year or maybe even two plots and tweek things a little.  It is just nice to go out in the garden and dig in the dirt, and to pick something that we grew and eat it.  

Kids update:

Kid are doing great!!  Ewan is having fun doing parks stuff and playing with friends.  We are trying to do summer stuff while the season lasts but sometimes it is just too hot to go out side.  Ewan is going to be starting his second year of preschool in about a month and then next year we will start homeschooling.  Anwen is getting sooooo big, and she is talking a lot.  She is also starting to express her self and show a little sass.  At this age it is cute, but I am a little afraid for what it will be when she is older.  All is well with the Grant Clan!

Food update:

I have pretty successfully been off of gluten and dairy, and I have felt loads better.  I recently started trying cheese again because I was told that cheese does not have lactose in it so I thought I would try it, I am not sure if it is bothering me or not.  I am still not eating any other dairy though, only cheese rarely.  I have over the past few months gotten better at shopping for gluten free and dairy free food, though it is getting easier it is not any easier on the pocketbook. Buying these specialty foods is expensive,  it is throwing my whole food budget off.  I really miss things like beer and pizza, and ice cream and bread, but feeling good makes it all worth it. I feel like I am starting to know what myself feels like.  Before I started this diet everyday my body felt different and crappy, now my body feels pretty consistent from day to day, unless I am PMSing, then who now what I am going to feel like. I am thankful that this is all working out and I am seeing results.

So there you have it in three easy paragraphs, my life updated.  Hoping to blog more later.

Pizza anyone?

Since I have been unable to eat wheat or dairy I have been exploring ways to make healthy meals without those ingredient.  Here is a pizza wrap recipe that I came up with that turned out really good.

You will need:

Teff Flour Tortilla

Tofu cream cheese

Pizza sauce

Zucchini

Yellow squash

Eggplant

Onion

Salt and Pepper to taste

Olive oil

Here is what you do:

Preheat your oven to 350

Slice up the zucchini, eggplant, green pepper, onion and squash pretty thinly if you can.  

Put the sliced up veggies onto a baking sheet and coat with olive oil.  Sprinkle salt over them and put into the oven to roast for about 15 minutes, more or less, just check them every once and a while to make sure they are not burning.

Spread tofutti cream cheese onto wraps and then the pizza sauce.  Place roasted veggies onto wrap.  Place veggie on wrap the way you would with a pizza.  You can slice the pizza with a pizza cutter or you can just fold it and eat it.  

Enjoy!

Gluten free, Dairy free waffle recipe

This is a recipe for waffles that I modified to meet my fickle dietary needs.  It is Gluten free, and Dairy free, amazingly it is not taste free.  I use this Gluten free all purpose flour from Bob's Red Mill and it is really convenient, you can substitute it 1:1 for other flours.  The whole family thought they tasted great, one recipe down many many more to go.

Serves 4-6

2 eggs

1-2/3 cup rice milk

1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 cups gluten free all purpose flour ( I use Bob's Red Mill)

1 tablespoon of baking powder

2 tablespoons of sugar (I use brown sugar)

1/2 teaspoon Xantham Gum

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

a few generous sprinkles of pumpkin pie spice, or when I have it available I use almond extract

Combine the wet ingredients, then combine the dry ingredients, then combine the two together.  Pour into waffle maker as instructions on machine direct you.

Food frustrations:(

Recently I embarked on a journey to what I hope is a life in which I feel healthier and physically better.  I have long suspected that I suffer from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), and recently started trying to cut things out of my diet in an effort to feel better.  The list of things that I cannot eat seems to be longer then those things I can eat, WOW is that depressing!  The two really big things that I cannot seem to eat are dairy and wheat/gluten, at least those are the things that are making this transition difficult and expensive.  I have been mostly dairy free for almost a year now but only wheat/gluten free for about 2 weeks.  The wheat/gluten thing is truly challenging, and frustrating.  Today I made what I thought were gluten free carob chip cookies with Ewan and not only did 3/4 of them burn to a crisp but it turns out that carob chips have barley malt in them which has gluten in it.  So I had a huge mess on my hands, an upset stomach, and nothing to ease my craving for something sweet.  On the up side Ewan likes them, so I guess that is good.  In fact I just walked into the kitchen to see what he was doing and he was sitting on the counter next to the cookies eating them, he looked really cute.  So I guess I will be taking this one meal at a time and see how it goes, frustration and all

12 hours, 7 people, 1 car.

12 hours was the estimated time that map quest gave me to travel from Chicago to Arkansas City, Kansas. 7 people was how many we had on our trip and yes we were all in 1 car, thankfully it was a minivan. Our journey participants were, Brian 32, Shonah 31, Meghan 30, Theresa 16, Connor 8, Ewan 4, Anwen 1. We started our journey early on Thursday morning with a full tank of gas, lots of food, and empty bladders, at least we thought they were empty. 23 minutes into our trip, 8:23am Ewan called out from the back that he had to pee, we were starting to get concerned, would our whole trip be a series of pee breaks? With 11 hours and 37 minutes left in our trip we again set off from our pee break. At 8:39am we decide that we thought that it might be cool to document our trip so we started a log. At 8:40am as Meghan is reaching for the notebook to start documenting this trip she is somehow elbowed in the face by me, as I was driving by the way. It was a total accident but it sure did smart. At 9:07am Brian somehow got his finger stuck in the handi wipes container, it was pretty funny, at least for those of us who were not stuck. At 9:25am Brian is now free from the wipes container and trying to figure out how to suspend the DVD player for the kids, there were lots of straps. Around 10:00am The kids are quiet and watching a movie, aah technology! At 10:30am Connor shouts from the back that he needs to pee, so we stop again. We purchase candy, fill up the tank with gas, stretch our legs and switch drivers. With Meghan in the drivers seat who know what will happen. Seconds later we are wondering if it is a good idea to have Meghan drive as she seems to not be able to get out of the parking space, oh boy! 11:15 am, we are justing getting through Springfield, IL and Meghan and I decide that we would like to get to St. Louis before stopping for lunch. Meghan asks me if I can make the sandwiches in the car, I say yes and ask her if she got the bread, she answers no, oops, I guess we will be making another stop. 11:18am, Danica, I mean Meghan has a lead foot, I am a little afraid. And since we are on the topic of Meghan's special driving skills we also found out that she does not seem to feel the need to break while coming into a curve, instead it is just accelerate the whole way through. We were all a little afraid:) 12:20pm I am frantically trying to get pictures of the St. Louis Arch. I cannot for the life of me seem to get a clear shot. 12:28pm, we are sitting on a bridge right in front of the arch, had I known this was coming I would have waited to take all of my pictures, finally a good shot. We are finally in Missouri and soon we will be stopping for lunch. As you can see the first 4 hours of our trip were pretty exciting, thankfully that tapered off and we were able to go the rest of the 8 hours with few complications and three very well behaved children. About 20 miles outside of Arkansas city we encountered a severe thunderstorm. Just as it started to rain we found ourselves stuck behind a long over sized vehicle caravan, at first we were trying to pass them but in the end we were glad we had been unsuccessful, it rained so hard that had they not been in front of us we would not have been able to see the road. We arrived, in Arc City around 8:30pm, tired, hungry, and wet. It had been a long day but it was worth it to be at our destination a day early. The kids had been great, and the weather and traffic has also been great, all in all we could not have asked for a better trip.

Our fearless leader

In my family on my Mothers side our fearless leader has always been my Grandfather James McLeod.  A man with an adventurous spirit, and a strong will, he has lead our family on many adventures.  From the highlands of Scotland to the mountains of Arizona my grandfather has fearlessly lead us.  This morning my Grandfather left us for his eternal home with the Lord, and we are left to continue on with the adventure.  For several months my grandfather's health had been failing, so we all knew that this was coming but some how it was still a surprise.  I guess I had been holding out hope that he would return to health and lead us on one more adventure, but it was not to be.  The last time I visited with Grandpa was in mid April with my mom and my sister.  Grandpa was in a rehab place and he was ill but by the grace of God he was still the Grandpa my sister and I remembered.  He looked a little bit thinner and more tired but his spirit was still strong, we had hope.  We were able to sit with him and reminisce, hear stories from the past and talk about the future, his and ours.  Anwen was with me and I was able to watch as she interacted with Grandpa and was able to witness the joy that she brought to him.  My sister and I were able to help care for him, it was an honor to be able to do so.  We joked, and laughed and cried and prayed, it was amazing, it was a blessing.  A few weeks later after our visit had ended Grandpa really started going down hill, his body was tired and weakening and his mind was confused, his lucid moments were becoming fewer and fewer, he was slipping away.  As grandpa's health deteriorated my sister and I came to realize that we had been blessed with a visit that's timing was perfect, we were able to be with him and him with us while he remembered.  We were able to make a few more memories for him and for ourselves, and those will have to last the rest of our lives.  His stories will live inside of us, as will our memories of him.  Tonight I will raise a glass of Tamnavulin single malt scotch to my Grandpa, and savor the smell that reminds me of him.