Magnanimously homeschooling, worshiping, creating.......

Join us on a journey of faith, healing, learning to live with part of our hearts missing, and recovery, as our family rebuilds our lives, after our son's long battle with cancer....and his eventual rise on eagle's wings into Heaven...victory is his...he is serving the King!!!

Friday, October 18, 2013

lower wt, the plan

I finally hit a good lowest milestone this week.  I did lots of cleaning on Sunday and while I was at it I made chicken broth out of my leftover chicken bones.  I drank a pint of this as my meal for the afternoon and after taking a sitz bath with Epsom salts, I felt very refreshed and cleansed.  I haven't really done that in awhile and I am glad I did.  I think I really needed that. They say when you lose wt. you are releasing the toxins that are stored in your fat cells.
Other changes I have implemented is starting a short Pilates schedule.  Schedule is not the right word, just doing 10 minutes of it a few times a week in addition to the band arm exercises I do almost every night.  I can tell that little bit is quite toning.  I have to be wise about my use of exercise due to my adrenal fatigue.  As I have begun to heal, I have been able to add these in slowly. Over the summer I would work in the garden for 20 min or clean the house or go for a 10 minute bike ride and I would be totally wiped for the rest of the day and barely be able to make it up the steps to my bedroom!
The broth was an idea that was started by my research into the GAPS diet which I am looking into for use with my son in the near future.  He has IBS. He has had it since I can remember and now it has been more of an acute issue for him.  Yes, I do believe it is likely a stress reaction to the loss of his brother as to why it is so acute this year.
My research has me thinking that he needs to have his gut healed and this seems to be the best way to do that.  Even the elimination diet would help but it is so much harder to gauge in a young person, so with the GAPS, he can follow a very specific plan that will actually heal the gut and even allow him to eat foods that bothered him before.  This is no small task and may be taken on by all of us as we all will likely benefit from it, so I must take my time in it's implementation. Plus, he is 14, so I need to help him be full on board!
If you have an issue with allergies, ADHD, autism and more....this is something you want to look into.

Sunday, October 13, 2013

the plan update..oat meal

For those of you that are keeping up on my elimination lifestyle change, I tested oatmeal on Thursday morning and was so excited to wake up and find that I was down .8.  I thought I was up at first, but no, I was down....85% of people find oatmeal to be a trigger food, so this is very good news for me, but not so great when we know it bothers two of my children, so bulk items with oatmeal may not work.  Also, different versions of oatmeal are still tests, although now it is more likely that I will pass it.

 I also got down to my lowest wt. so far. I have been feeling great.

I am looking into the GAPS diet to help heal my son's IBS.  I will post more on that later but it is specific to healing the gut which we know he has huge issues with. What is the connection between acne and ones gut. We know health starts in the gut. Yikes.

I am really loving Pinterest for keeping track of all these great and healthy recipes.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

apple pear crisp, home made blender whip cream, twister jar

I am using a recipe from Ellana Amsterdam's cook book. I created an apple pear crisp, based on her apple crisp recipe.  We are NOT paleo people, but paleo recipes often work for our needs that we have for our meals.(this is what will allow us to change this up a bit too)   I ordered a huge lot of organic apples which turned out to be just $1+ per pound and apples have been a huge part of our meals lately.  This is the right thing to do as it is in season which is always a great way to eat anything.
I have been looking for alternative crisp topping recipes and will continue to do so, because this family cannot have wheat now that through my elimination testing, it is a trigger food for me and therefore assumed to be for my autoimmune daughter since children often follow our lead on these things.  I am testing her as well but it is harder to tell with a young person as their bodies are so resilient while having issues, but since all the research I have done has pointed to no gluten, then we are just going for it in the hopes of helping her body heal and to prevent any further issues.  We have noticed some of her symptoms improving overall. We also cannot have oats due to my boy being reactive to this. Blah!!!





Mmmmm....fresh out of the oven.  Smells great!  

General Recipe: (not giving exact since it is from her book)

apples of choice, I cut around core and did not peel
apple juice
lemon juice
salt
cinnamon
nutmeg
arrowroot

Topping:

almond flour
grapeseed oil
agava nector
vanilla
salt

baked for 45 mins then another 10 to crisp up the topping



Home made whip cream:

I pretty much never buy whip cream anymore, I simply buy cream from Aldi, the best price, I am not really able to get organic often.  
I use my Twister Jar blender which can make powdered sugar, isn't that cool?
I add my choice of sugar, natural something, then zoom that in my blender until powdery, then
I add a dash of vanilla and a pint of cream
put my Blendtec on 4 and in about 30+ seconds I have a finished product all ready to plop on all my treats!
YUM!

Verdict:

This crisp was very good but the topping did not crisp up enough for us and it was a bit bland, likely because there was no butter...so we will be using butter, coconut oil or both in the next batch, that should give us that extra edge we are looking for.

It was gone that night and I was thinking how much my little Braveheart would have loved eating this. 


Thursday, October 3, 2013

9 months in Heaven~~~~~




Lamentations 3:21-22

King James Version (KJV)
21 This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.
22 It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.


We miss you our beloved and we can't wait to see you again!

Labels

2015 Project (4) abundant blessings and thankfulness (31) adventures with two kitties (2) artzy (3) autoimmune disease (1) backyard (1) baking (2) binding quilt (1) birds (10) birthday blitz (22) blendtec (2) boyz tuff (10) braveheart (44) Braveheart in Heaven (35) braveheart memory (9) cancer (55) carz r kool (5) cats love to quilt too (6) Christmas blessings (10) churndash block (1) classical conversations (3) co-op (2) college (9) cooking (9) craftzy (13) Crochet Creations (1) crochetz (25) crock pot (4) daddy (6) damsel girl (63) Daughter's quilt (2) dollhouse (4) dylan (21) exchange student from Japan (3) family (43) father/son (6) favorite products (3) field trip (7) flashback friday (3) flowers (1) flying (6) free motion quilting (7) friendship (15) fundraiser (4) GAPS (1) garden (26) getting ready for transplant (8) gluten free (4) goals (2) grandma's the best (4) grieving (2) hand stitching (1) Hashimoto's Thyroididtis (1) healer (2) history (1) holiday (7) homemade (21) hypothyroidism (1) immune healing diet (11) juicing and raw foods (4) just musing (12) just sayin' (2) karate (2) keepers of the faith (5) kindle (3) learning adventures (36) life's a journey (1) machine quilting blog hop (3) MAGNANIMOUS (5) Magnanimous Photography (5) making it up as i go (1) marvelous milestones (31) milestones (1) mother/daughter (8) movie mania (3) music (14) nature (55) new beginnings (5) ninja boy (1) nutrition (15) organizing (5) photography (29) poetry (3) practice makes progress (2) project 2017 (1) quilt project 2017 (5) quilting (9) quilting project 2018 (3) reading adventures (38) recipe (12) recipe created by me (2) relapse (6) review (11) scouts (7) seasons (18) sewing (10) soft lovlies (1) spiritual (17) still life photography (1) T agent (25) teens (6) the kidletz (7) The Plan (27) thrifty (5) traditions (1) transplant journey (10) update (30) weight loss (21) wordless weds (22)

Why MAGNANIMOUS?

Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary of the American Language defines Magnanimity as such:
MAGNANIM'ITY, n. [L. magnanimitas; magnus, great, and animus, mind.] Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul, which encounters danger and trouble with tranquillity and firmness, which raises the possessor above revenge, and makes him delight in acts of benevolence, which makes him disdain injustice and meanness, and prompts him to sacrifice personal ease, interest and safety for the accomplishment of useful and noble objects.