Clogging Thoughts

Fiona and Eric had another clogging performance tonight. There have been a lot of them this month since it's the holidays. Many have been at nursing homes and I'm glad. I love seeing how much the residents enjoy watching the dancers. I love seeing my kids walk around afterward and greet them. It's good for them to be exposed to these elderly people and it's good for the residents to get to see the youngsters.
It also makes me miss my grandparents. I enjoy talking with these great men and women. I'm happy to share my kids with them. I know all of my grandparents would approve. ;)
That said, I'm worn out from so many this month. This week it was every other day. Whew! There's only one more and then we are done until Jan. Then I think we just have one that month. Then back to once a week practice until May. That will be nice. :)  I can't wait to see what new songs they will be learning. :)

My first try at wheat free bread

So I was looking for a gluten free bread to make Colleen. She loves bread and butter. :)  I didn't have the ingredients for the one I found, so I substituted. This is what I ended up with. Since it has oat flour, it isn't really "gluten free" but it is wheat free and that's what we need.

First Bread (Wheat Free)

    * 1 cup Oat Flour
    * 1-1/2 cups White Rice Flour
    * 1/2 cup Corn Starch
    * 3 tsp Xanthan Gum
    * 1 tsp Sea Salt
    * 2 Tb Sugar
    * 1 Tb Yeast, Active Dry
    * 2 Eggs, room temperature
    * 2 Tb Vegetable Oil
    * 1-3/4 cups Water, room temperature
    * 1 tsp. Vinegar, room temperature

Directions
In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in the warm water. Sprinkle yeast on top and let stand 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, combined the flours, starch, xanthan gum and salt; set aside.

Add the eggs, oil and vinegar to the yeast/water mixture. Blend ingredients until fully combined. Add the dry ingredients and blend for about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, spread dough into a greased bread pan. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm location for 30 minutes, or until dough rises to top of bread pan.

Place bread in preheated 375°F oven and bake 55 minutes.

It is great! Very yummy and I really wouldn't guess it was wheat free. The kids all love it too! Bonus!

Sometimes you have to man up...

and do what you have to as a parent.  For us, that means sucking it up and going wheat-free for Colleen. I've had to listen, with no way to help, as my little girl sat on the toilet and screamed and sobbed trying to go to the bathroom. Every time she eats, she gets a belly ache. Yes, it's hard to tell her no when she wants food she used to be able to have. Yes it's hard to go anywhere to eat and find something safe for her. But, we have to do this. She needs it.
So how do are we going about it? Well, some of it is easy since we were still doing it from the last time we tried to get rid of wheat. We still don't have any cereal with wheat in the house for instance. Also, she is used to the rye crackers. Other stuff with be harder. I still don't have a good idea of what to do when she wants a sunbutter sandwich. I don't want to buy gluten-free bread. (or make it. yet anyway) We have found a gluten-free chocolate cake mix that is fantastic. We also have a few different noodles that we like for different things. Some are rice noodles and some are corn based. For some stuff, like sloppy joes, we just eat it over rice. Some stuff, like tacos, don't have to change at all! :)
So, we start the wheat-free journey again. This time knowing that we simply have to stay on it.

Scottish Shortbread

I thought I'd share this recipe.  I'll probably share more later. :)

Scottish Shortbread
  
   Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
 --------  ------------  --------------------------------
    1      pound         butter (no substitutes) -- softened
    1      cup           packed brown sugar
    4      cups          all-purpose flour -- -4 1/2 cups
 
 In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add 3-3/4 cups flour;
 mix well. Sprinkle a board with some of the remaining four. Knead for 5
 minutes, adding enough remaining flour to make a soft, non-sticky dough.
 Roll to 1/2″ thickness. Cut into 3"x1″ strips. Place 1″ apart on ungreased
 baking sheets. Prick with a fork. Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes or
 until cookies are lightly browned. Yield about 4 dozen


I usually only make half a recipe and that's plenty for the 6 of us.

December!

I can not believe it's December already! William ill be 4 months old tomorrow. He's laughing more, rolling over from his belly to his back, reaching for things and will look for what made a sound now. When ever Daddy is talking, William looks for him and tries to catch his eye to smile at him. :)
Fiona and Eric have a lot of clogging performances to go to this month. We are going to be very busy. So busy infact, that I'm not sure when we are going to celebrate Colleen's birthday. We'll have to fit it in somewhere.
They had to miss their one and only practice this months. Everybody got sick. Even William. :(  It's not horrible, but not great. Sore throats, cough, runny nose and drainage. Yuck. It's made it hard for everyone to sleep. I'm ready for us all to be healthy again.
In other news, we ran out of dog food and decided to go raw for them. They are loving their daily chicken leg quarters. :)