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Gluten Free Instant Pot Pasta E Fagioli Soup
This is one of my go-to soups for busy weeknights. Add a green salad and a loaf of gluten free bread, and it’s also a great meal to take to a friend. Actually, this soup is hearty enough to be a meal by itself. If you add the pasta right before you serve it, it holds its shape and texture better. Two of my kids have been strictly gluten and dairy free for years, and I recently found that I need to be gluten free as well. Fortunately there are quite a few great gluten free pastas on the market these days! I have made this with gluten free ditalini,…
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My New Discbound Personal and Homeschool Planner
This year I decided to combine my personal planner with my homeschool planner and to convert over to a discbound planner. For a long time I’ve used a bullet journal. As a planner junkie who loves to try out new layouts, it suited me perfectly. More recently I’ve been using a bujo in a traveler’s notebook, which was even better. The one big drawback to both of these options is that you can’t add or remove pages. I knew I didn’t want a ringbound planner because the rings tend to be big and get in my way. I like how you can flip over spiral planners, but like with ring bound planners…
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Poetry Teatime!
It’s been a LONG time since I’ve updated the blog. My younger two will begin 1st grade next week after Labor Day, and we are still homeschooling! One thing that we will be incorporating into our regular weekly schedule is a Poetry Teatime. So, we thought it would be fun to invite my mom over to join us for our first tea party of the school year (a week early.) I made a super yummy and entirely gluten free (and mostly dairy free) spread of fancy tea party foods. We picked some flowers from the backyard and lit a candle. It was all so lovely and we can’t wait for our next…
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Refried Cuban Black Beans w/Extra Veggies
I’ve made “refried” beans with other recipes, but this one is the best. And it’s freezer and prep-ahead friendly! I also love that I can get in a lot of extra veggies this way! Black beans seem to work best for hiding a lot of extra veggies, but I’ve used pinto beans as well. Both options are delicious. I use my Instant Pot all the time, and pressure cookers and beans are a perfect match! My kids are gluten and dairy free so I topped these with dairy free “cheese” and avocados. Serve hot or cold with corn chips for dipping. Forgot to soak your dried beans last night? No problem! Just…
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Homemade Cream of (Anything) Soup!
I really try to use only real food in my cooking. This is not to say that I don’t sometimes reach for a processed or pre-packaged ingredient, but in general I try to avoid them. In some cases this means added expense, but usually it leads to a more frugal meal plan! Such is the case with cream of (anything) soup. And, have you ever looked at the ingredients in a can of condensed soup?! Not the most appetizing ingredient list! I don’t use cream of soup very often, but there are times when I want to make a casserole, and it calls for a can of cream of mushroom or…
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Treating Down Syndrome
Let me be clear – Down syndrome (T21) is not something that can be “cured”. When people ask things like, “How severe is her Down syndrome?” I’m tempted to respond, “Well, you could say that it’s as severe as possible. It’s also as mild as possible.” A person either has it or they don’t. (This leaves out of the equation the types of Ds, but for our purposes we’ll assume it’s Standard Trisomy 21, which is what most people are familiar with, and also makes up over 90% of the Ds population.) It’s true that there is a broad range of manifestations and a range of symptoms (for lack of…
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Flash Cards and Simple Books
One of the things we do with Lily is to select simple books that have the same words repeated throughout the book. As I’ve posted about before, I first make flashcards from all the words in the book. I put the word on both sides of the card, using a different font on each side. Not only does this make it easier to flash the cards, but it also helps her recognize the same word can look slightly different. If we already have a flash card for any particular word I don’t make a new one, but depending on how long ago we reviewed it, I may pull it out…
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Fast Flashing to Teach Reading – Flash Cards
Even before we started Lily on a neurodevelopmental (ND) program through ICAN, I was using flash cards with her. This is one area that I think is confusing for parents new to an ND program. There are a few different types of flash card activities, such as receptive picture cards, language cards, and word cards, with various interpretations and even different names for these card activities. Picture cards – you are just rapidly showing pictures and giving the child a word to associate with each picture. The goal is to build vocabulary, not teach them to read. You are not showing words, just pictures. This is a fast flashing activity, done in short, frequent sessions each day. I…
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Powders, Pills, and Liquids, Oh My! Our Supplement Routine
I have three kids. All three take supplements. My 4 year old and 3 year old both have theirs mixed in with a morning smoothie. In an effort to make our mornings easier I pre-prep morning smoothie packets, as I’ve posted about before. I do the same thing with supplements. For my 11 year old, I pre-sort his into a 7-day pill sorter. He can then just open the correct day and take his own vitamins. For my youngest, I use these 2 ounce food storage containers. For Lily, who takes the most supplements as part of her TNI (targeted nutritional intervention) protocol, I use two of these 8 packs of 1 ounce dressing containers. This…
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Prenatal Diagnosis of Down Syndrome
Dear pregnant mom who received a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, I’m talking to you… The mom who was devastated by the news that your baby has Down syndrome. I’m not talking to the mom who was barely fazed, though you are welcome to read on (and maybe you can give me some tips on how you keep so calm and cool.) I’m talking to the mom who was literally brought to her knees, thinking her life was over, that she might never bond with her child, that she would never feel happy again. The mom who cried for months, gut-wrenching sobs that wracked her body, sadness only hidden when her…
