This book is about us!

Teddy's bedtime book tonight was Mommy, Mama, and Me by Leslea Newman. I was afraid that it would be little young for him, but he loved it!

I'd been on the waiting list for it at the library for a while and was surprise when it came in that it was a board book. Even though most nights we read from a chapter book, some nights you just need a little book.

But back to the book. When we were done, Teddy was excited that the child in the book had 2 mom's, just like he does. The child in the book is pretty gender neutral, so I told him the child was a boy.

It was great to hear him say, "This book is about us!"
Susan

Is this Unitarian or what?

Tomorrow is our congregation's Thanksgiving service. It's one of the rare occasions where we have communion. This year, like last, it will be a cornbread & apple cider communion. And again this year I was asked to make the cornbread (actually, mini muffins).

This is how you know it's Unitarian: the cornbread is gluten-free, nut-free, peanut-free, soy-free, and vegan. Last year I made the same muffins, but egg-free cooking was pretty new to me and I was afraid to try it. In the spirit on inclusion, I decided to go for it this year. Our minister's daughter has an egg allergy, and I wanted her to be able to participate in the occasion.

Sadly, we won't be attending the service. Teddy's been sick since Wednesday and while he is better today, he won't be well enough tomorrow. I don't think he'll be going to school Monday, either.

I don't remember where I got the original corn muffin recipe. Teddy loves it. I make it weekly and he takes 3 of the mini muffins to school for snack. The original recipe called for Pamela's all-purpose gluten-free baking mix. As Teddy has a nut allergy, using that is out of the question. I've adapted a gluten-free flour mix that I think is excellent (& will post soon), or use any you like.



Corn Muffins, gluten-free
makes about 4 dozen mini muffins


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups corn meal

3/4 cups gluten-free flour

1/2 cups sugar

1 T baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup milk (non-dairy if desired)

2 eggs (or equilivent egg replacer)

3 T melted butter (or oil)



Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400, spray mini muffin pan with non-stick spray.
All ingredients should be at room temperature.

In a medium bowl, combine corn meal, GF flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, and melted butter.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the milk mixture. Mix until just combined. Scoop batter into prepared pan.

Bake 15 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn out onto cooling rack & let cool completely.



Enjoy!
Susan

The Movies

Ruth & I had an actual date Saturday night--babysitter & everything! We decided to go to the movies, but under NO circumstances was it to be a movie by Disney or Pixar.

We saw Julie & Julia. And we loved it! Unfortunately, I really regretted eating at the mall food court before. We didn't get ill, it was just the decision to eat at the food court that seemed... wrong. (being at a mall on a Saturday night is a discussion for another day)

And speaking of movies, we try to do pizza & movie night once a week. The day has been changing, but we think we've hit on the perfect day--Thursday! Ruth works from home on Thursdays, so we can start the movie earlier than other weeknights. Weekends are just too busy to try to do it, so there you are.

This last weeks movie was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Teddy hasn't been great about seeing the classic Disney movies. No matter how hard we try to tell him that there's a happy ending, you just have to get through the scary parts, he has never been able to watch one all the way through. Maybe 6 1/2 is the magic number, because we watched it all the way through this time.

Pizza this week was frozen. Teddy had his Amy's gluten-free rice crust pizza with added turkey pepperoni, and Ruth & I had a frozen everything.

Next week I hope to make pizza from scratch; not sure what the movie will be.
Susan

I said occasional...

but honestly, this wasn't what I had in mind! I guess I should have known better than to take on a new undertaking just as school was starting.

And did I mention the computer virus? The laptop I use most contracted a nasty one. Nothing seems to be permanently lost, but I'm still not sure where my .exe files are. I am extremely grateful to the friend who spent 3 hours on the phone with me trying to get rid of it.

Speaking of virus', I have a bit of a stomach one today, so this is all for now. More later.
Susan

Hello!

Hello there!
My name is Susan & this is my blog. I live in Massachusetts with my spouse, son & dog. I'm a mostly stay-at-home mom with a part-time job at the local library.

What I want this to be is a collection of my random, occasional thoughts about relationships, parenting (especially about a kid with food allergies), work, home keeping, and other things I wasn't trained for.

Wish me luck!
Susan