GF Apple pie anyone?

Nothing warms your house (and soul) like the smell of apple pie baking in the oven!

So on this dreary day, I decided to pop one in.

Totally made this recipe up and haven't tasted it yet due to it still cooling but I figured I would share anyways.

Kara's GF apple pie (and crust)

Crust:
2 cups GF flour of your choice (spelt would be yummy if you can handle it)
1/3 cup of COLD butter divided
1/3 cup of COLD coconut oil
1 Tablespoon of salt
5 Tablespoons of ice cold water


Mix flour and salt together.  Cut in butter and coconut oil.  Slowly add ice water until it forms a dough ball.  Split in two, roll out and place bottom in pie dish.

Filling:
7 cups of apples (skinned and cut up)
1/4 cup corn starch (or another thickener)
1/2 cup sweetener
1 Tablespoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
pinch of clove

Mix all in a large bowl and place in pie crust.  Put top on pie and do as you please with it...as long as you have a few vents :)  Bake at 375 for an hour!

ENJOY!!

Dinner time!!

If you haven't seen a theme here yet, you haven't been reading for long. I like to save money. Seriously! I HATE spending money on useless things. Grocery's being one of them...and, as I have said before, I make a weekly menu followed by a grocery list. Just in case you were short on ideas for this week, here is what we will be eating at the Riedl household this week!

Monday~ Salsa Cube Steak, baked broccoli

Tuesday~Easy chicken stir fry with rice (I added chicken)

Wednesday~Chicken parm with salad

Thursday~Marinated baked pork chops with baked carrots and rice

Friday~Sweet and sour chicken with fried rice

Saturday~ Out

Sunday~ Steak fajitas with baked nachos


Lunch:
PB&J
turkey/cheese rolls
apples with peanut butter and veggies
egg salad
tuna fish
smoothies


Grocery list:
frozen strawberries
sauce
chicken
pork chops
cheese (2 packs)
spinach
apples (2 bags)
bananas
mayo
ketchup
milk
eggs
tortillas
carrots
frozen mixed veggies
oats
one kids snack item

Snack time!

I don't know about your kids but mine are snackers. Now don't get me wrong, they like to eat meals (at least 3 out of the 4) but they also LOVE snacks. That being said, I try to (or course) make them healthy snacks.

Milkshakes AKA Smooties are our favorite snack. I enjoy them as well and they serve as a good protein boost for this nursing around the clock mama. I have honestly NEVER followed a "recipe" for smoothies and just put random delicious things in them. BUT recently I have found my favorite so I figured I would share with you.

Banana Elderberry Kefir Smoothie

1 large banana
1 cup of plain kefir
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup elderberries (or other fruit of choice)
handful of ice
1 teaspoon ground flax seed
milk

Combine them all in a blender until smooth and enjoy! This recipe feeds all three children plus me.

Looking for other delicious smoothie recipes! Please share!

Weekly menu

In the past, I have talked about how much we spend per month on groceries and ways to save. Even so, I am finding it much more challenging to stay within the budget with a growing family, gas prices, and the ridiculous price of groceries.

Let me start by saying, I love Aldi! BUT...the closest one is a good 15/20 minute drive and with gas sometimes it just isn't worth it. Even so, I try to make an Aldi run at least 2x a month. Now...what do I do on the off weeks? TOPS...barf! It is right in town (3 miles from our house to be exact) and very convenient. For a while, it wasn't too bad. Yes, their produce isn't much to talk about about the the price of many products was at least 50 cents more than those at Aldi. But now...it just insane! Today I did my weekly shopping at Tops and could barely (actually I went a dollar over) stay within my weekly budget. I didn't buy anything special and if you have read some of my former posts, you will see we really don't buy much.

I just need to let it go...I know. Food is a necessity and my kids would not be happy campers if mommy boycotted grocery stores. But I figured this is a time to bring back an old post on saving money on groceries. Stop by and revisit it and see if it helps. I believe the most important part to saving money is weekly menus....SOOOOO I included mine for this week so you could get a glimpse of meals at the Riedl household.

Monday:
B: Eggs, sourdough bread (or GF bread), with sausage
L: Yogurt, PB&J, and carrot sticks*
D: Stew with baked potatoes, GF brownies

Tuesday:
B: Pancakes with strawberries
L: Tuna, celery with peanut butter
D: Chicken Parm with ziti and baked broccoli

Wednesday:
B: Yogurt and granola
L: MOPS brunch...kids get leftovers
D: Pork chops with corn bread and mixed veggies

Thursday:
B: Eggs, toast, fresh fruit
L: PB&J with cucumber
D: Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and corn

Friday:
B: Oatmeal with fruit
L: Playdate lunch (Cooper get a GF sandwich)
D: Ballet recital...Leftovers


*lunches are different for everyone due to work/school schedules but we try to stick to one basic main course. I tend to eat leftovers...

So there it is folks...our weekly meals. I only buy what I need for these meals and a few snack items for the kids. Just and FYI....I don't actually plan weekend meals because we are in and out so much. We usually just fly by the seat of our pants for those meals.

Looking for more ways to save on groceries...any ideas???

Do YOU know what today is?

Some of you know that we have started to think about homeschooling.

Before you say it, YES, I know how difficult it can be and YES, I know how regimented one must be to make it work and YES, we live in a great school district...

BUT

Did you know that mama's should be with their little ones until they are at least 8 years old? AND did you that the teacher that will be teaching your little one has 20+ other students who are all learning at a different speed? AND did you know that children are the most impressionable in their elementary years? AND did you know that we are Christians and really want God to be a part of our daily "learning" time?

Okay, so I said it. Those are some of the reasons why we are considering it.

That being said, we have started to implement a daily schedule of "learning" time. I ordered curriculum through Little Acorn Learning (THANKS SARAH) and have started using it on a daily basis along with some of my own stuff. Kylie and Cooper love it so far (as does mommy). I will let you know how it all pans out over the next few months.

Here is our room right now...it will be painted in the spring...probably yellow with a nice cork board on the wall.

Well TODAY we learned that IT IS THE 12TH DAY OF CHRISTMAS.

We decorated kings (and queens) crowns to celebrate when the wise men came to visit baby Jesus. The cirriculum talk about making a cake but due to our allergies (and mommy's lack of GF products in the pantry) we made cheese crackers...with our crowns on of course.
I am going to share with you all the recipe because my SIL shared it with me just yesterday and it has been a HUGE success in both of our households.

4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
4 tablespoons butter, softened
2/3 cup rice flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 tablespoons milk

• Preheat oven to 400.
• combine all ingredients except milk in bowl. mix until mixture resembles a fine crumb. add the milk and beat well.
• on a greased baking pan roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. cut into 3/4 inch squares (I used a pizza cutter) or other shapes if you desire.
• prick tops with fork and bake for 10 minutes (I cooked for 15 minutes for extra cruchiness)

Now I like to give credit where credit is due but I HAVE NO IDEA the name of this book. I just have a copy of the page. Once I find out (from my SIL) I will let you know.

This is what Cooper thought of them....
and just because I have a picture of all my other children, I felt I should include one of my little "clapper" Addy....

Yes, it's all about food...

I know I have been a posting slacker lately...taking the easy way out by just posting pics of my beautiful children. Although I will add I am not as bad as my dear BFF Jocelyn over at Tillaboro Orchard. Well today I have decided to post...oh wait..hold on a min...

Okay I am back. Addy decided that I wasn't bouncing hard enough with her in the sling so I had to go do some jumping jacks.

Anyways...As I have posted in the past, Cooper has some belly issues. I mean, the kid has NEVER had a hard poop, has major skin issues, holds his belly after he eats, and the list goes on. Now we haven't pursued this a lot because they aren't major but once potty training started, we decided enough is enough. Turns out they think he has a wheat allergy (kinda what we were thinking) and are running all sorts of tests to figure out what the issue is. We started a gluten free diet this week (which is REALLY hard) and saw the first signs of improvement today....he had a hard poop!! YEAH COOPER! But anyways, I am always looking for some new gluten free recipes. My internet friend Hanna has provided me with a few (thanks Hanna) but I need some more friends...any ideas for lunches for this boy? I will keep you all posted as to what happens.

On another note, we are always looking to eat more whole foods. You know, the ones that haven't been over processed. Some people think I am pretty crazy for making my own bread, peanut butter, yogurt, and the list goes on and on and on but really I just want my family to eat right! So today when my home page came up there was an article about whole foods...you HAVE to read it . It totally validated everything I have thought about whole foods...Yeah for some good eats! I am always look for more ways to eat right so I would enjoy some of your ideas...

I'm off to rescue Mr. Cooper from his room after he has not slept for a total of an hour and a half and has repeatedly screamed, "MOMMY, I"M DONE" the ENTIRE time! Gotta love 2 year olds!