Summer Toma-Yums
Made my honey this for lunch by the pool. Fresh tomatoes from the farmer’s market (only my cherry tomatoes are ripe thus far) with asiago cheese, balsamic vinegar dressing and lemon basil!
Promises of Caprese’s to come!
Father’s Day Fun
We celebrated Father’s Day by serving daddy-o breakfast in bed, then going to the Old Mill
Mastcells are Mean
My eldest has had a mast cell flare up. This is probably the second worst of her life thus far- which means it wasn’t good. She missed the whole last two weeks of school because her joints were so swollen and painful, not to mention stomach pain and rash.
What caused it this time?
- She had strep throat and was on Amoxycillin. (Obviously we can put amoxycillin on our list of triggers now.)
- She ate an “illegal” (i.e. containing food coloring) lollipop at school
- She was playing outside and got bit by bazillion mosquitos
The day after the mosquito bites we noticed swelling. I just thought it was because of the sheer amount of bites and doused her with cortizone cream.
Nope.
Poor kid couldn’t get out of bed for almost a whole week and is still weak from it all. I did find something wonderful this time which I have made and will keep in my medicine cabinet- mastolotion!
I swear it is magic. We put it on and her spots were gone in about two hours or less!
What is mast cell disease/mastocytosis?
Well in layman’s terms it’s this… Your body has things (histamines, mast cells…) that fight “alien invaders” (AKA allergens etc.) Some people (myself, my kids) have too many of these mast cell soldiers. What this means is that they all rush to fight the invaders but instead end up blocking the tiny capillaries in different parts of your body. Sometimes this means a rash, spots, flushing in the skin. Other times it can manifest in your joints and cause horrible joint paint similar to arthritis. It can also attack your organs, stomach, cause anaphalaxis…
Learn more about it here.
Growing up they told me I had too many of these “fighter cells” but really didn’t know much about it I guess. I was always sick and they’d say I had one thing (arthritis, pluerisy, or hystoplasmosis) and then decide it wasn’t that. I think I knew everyone at the local hospital.
The scary part as a parent is not knowing what could trigger an “attack.”
The things I have to avoid with them now are food dyes, preservatives, perfumes, heat, cold, (now some antibiotics,) stress in general.
At the ER I had a flying fit because they sat us under a commercial air freshener (which BTW they have installed in every area of Children’s Hospital, just when you thought you were safe…)
Now you see why I homeschooled for five years (and probably should now…)
The only good thing about this last episode is we finally got some Epipens.
Manicotti Mania!
I went a little crazy with the manicotti yesterday. I made two huge pans- one cheese and one turkey & cheese. Luckily I had enough to have some wonderful friends over today for lunch and swimming!
Manicotti
2 pkgs of manicotti noodles (cook until ALMOST done, drain and cool)
1 large container of ricotta cheese
1 lb. of ground turkey
1/2 onion chopped finely
herbs to taste (I used fresh oregano, nutmeg, and basil)
Mozzarella cheese (grated)
Any other cheese that you would like to get out of your fridge (I used goat cheese and some provelone also)
Tomato sauce of your choice (or homemade)
- Cook onion in skillet, when glazy add ground turkey (or beef or sausage) and basil and oregano. Add red wine if you have some (I didn’t and used some balsamic vinegar.) Brown and set aside.
- While meat is browning mix ricotta cheese, egg, nutmeg, and other cheeses (saving some mozzarella for top. This will be your filling if you want cheese only. If you want to add the meat mix it to this cheese mixture when it’s browned.
- In a large casserole dish pour some tomato sauce to cover bottom of pan.
- Take one manicotti noodle in your hand and stuff with cheese or cheese/meat mixture. (I use a large icing bag without the tip to fill mine.) Lay in pan.
- Continue to fill until they are all filled and lay in pan.
- Cover with a little tomato sauce and then top with mozzarella cheese.
- Bake at about 350 degrees until melty and bubbly!
Chickens!
Meet the newest additions to our family!
The kids each got to name one… so here is
(Yet to be named)
Dinner
and
Pillow
Trying to decide whether to save these first beauties until they ripen
or make fried green tomatoes tonight…
We found the chickies (whom I’m naming the Fates right now in honor of our Percy Jackson kick) in Beebe at the Flea Market there. They are young and won’t start laying eggs for another two to three months. The market is amazing. I had never been and it was like going into another country. They had about a mile of things- a sale barn for big animals (horses, cows, sheep, goats.) Then rows and rows of people selling whatever you wanted- movies, handmade toys, tools, saddles, cages for animals, food, vegetables, camping gear, junk, clothes… Then another row or two of just animals. We saw chickens of all kinds, guinea hens, geese, ducks, the biggest turkey in the world, baby goats, bunnies, a tiny baby deer that could barely stand, a little bitty racoon, puppies (all for free) and kittens (free too.) The boys had a blast begging me for another puppy (“But he’s FREE, mommy!”) and stuffing themselves with yummy Mexican horchata and popsicles.
If you are interested in keeping pet chickens for eggs etc. check out this site!
or make fried green tomatoes tonight…
We found the chickies (whom I’m naming the Fates right now in honor of our Percy Jackson kick) in Beebe at the Flea Market there. They are young and won’t start laying eggs for another two to three months. The market is amazing. I had never been and it was like going into another country. They had about a mile of things- a sale barn for big animals (horses, cows, sheep, goats.) Then rows and rows of people selling whatever you wanted- movies, handmade toys, tools, saddles, cages for animals, food, vegetables, camping gear, junk, clothes… Then another row or two of just animals. We saw chickens of all kinds, guinea hens, geese, ducks, the biggest turkey in the world, baby goats, bunnies, a tiny baby deer that could barely stand, a little bitty racoon, puppies (all for free) and kittens (free too.) The boys had a blast begging me for another puppy (“But he’s FREE, mommy!”) and stuffing themselves with yummy Mexican horchata and popsicles.
If you are interested in keeping pet chickens for eggs etc. check out this site!
Road Trip Dreaming
My family LOVES traveling.
We could be gone 7 out of 7 days and be happy. The past four years we haven’t done any international travel for some reason (oh yeah, because we have to get 2 rooms and buy 5 airline tickets) but have been taking lots of awesome road trips.
My youngest is obsessed with those strange roadside attractions. He watches movies about them, his favorite book is a coffee-table book on them. He’s convincing me to plan our summer trip based on some of the buildings we haven’t seen yet.
Some fun trips we’ve taken in the past few years:
- Arkansas to California and back! (the longest one yet)
- San Antonio (via train)
- Orlando (twice, with Mississippi stops)
- Mississippi
- St. Louis
- Dallas
- Chicago
- Memphis
- Branson
- All Around Arkansas
- Florida (Forgotten Coast)
When we drove to California we saw some crazy buildings & stuff. We tried to go on as much of old Route 66 as we could. This summer we’re thinking about taking a similar trip east. Just a “wing-it -have- fun -stopping -whenever” kind of road trip. Always fun!
The Big Bull in Amarillo
Supposedly the Largest Ball of Twine
*Sorry I’ve been M.I.A. lately. I’ve had sick kids and end of school things to keep me very busy so the bloggy world had to wait.