VLCADD Friendly Convenience Foods #KnowAboutMito

Tweet People regularly ask me how we manage Klaw's diet in relation to his VLCADD. He is currently limited to 6g fat per day. Most toddlers should get 40-50g fat per day. As you can imagine, this can make it difficult for us to just pick up something at the grocery store or at a restaurant for him to eat.

In order for Klaw to eat "fun" meals that incorporate a variety of flavors and foods, we pretty much have to cook at home. It's the only way we can guarantee the amount of fat in each serving. However, sometimes I just don't feel like measuring out each ingredient and using MyFitnessPal or another online recipe app to do the math and determine the fat/carbs/protein in each serving.

Sometimes, I just want to grab something, read the label, & hand it to my kid. Chris & I have found a few favorite "convenience" foods that we keep around the house that are low to no fat and that Klaw loves.

Every (non allergic) kid loves a good PB&J, right? Well, not when one serving of peanut butter has more fat than you can eat in a day.  Thankfully, Trader Joe's carries Better 'n Peanut Butter. It has 1g fat per tablespoon. We use that with sprouted whole grain bread, which is high in dietary fiber, high in protein, & low in fat. Our favorite sprouted grain bread is from, again Trader Joe's. Sprouted Flourless Whole Wheat Berry Bread has no fat at all. So, Klaw gets a full PB&J for a whopping 1g/fat.

We don't just shop at Trader Joe's, I promise. Our local Food Lion & Farm Fresh carries many items that are VLCADD friendly, too. Happy Baby Organic Puffs are fat free, taste like cardboard, and great for road trips. Happy Baby also makes some fat-free yogurt drops, Happy Yogis, in a variety of flavors, too. Yes, these snack items are pretty much devoid of nutrients but sometimes non-staining convenience wins. (These yogurt drops do not stain, in our experience!)

Most stores, including Walmart, are carrying the GoGo Squeez apple sauce packets. Apple sauce is, you guessed it, fat free. Yes, it's full of sugar but Klaw burns energy from sugar pretty efficiently. He's a VERY active toddler and he can't burn fat for energy. As long as he's going, going, going, the sugar in applesauce is not a big issue. A few other brands of squeezable sauces are also fat-free, but the GoGo Squeez brand seems to be pretty ubiquitous while we have to make special trips to Babies R Us or Target for the others.

Pasta & marinara sauce is a quick & easy VLCADD friendly meal we frequently cook. However, I don't always want pasta. Gerber Graduates Pasta Pickups make two flavors, chicken & carrot and turkey & vegetable, which are low fat, easy to heat up, and Klaw loves both flavors. We do limit how often he can have these but it makes for a quick, convenient lunch or dinner option. Especially if Chris & I want to have something high fat like pizza or, well, just cheese for dinner.

Pediasure Sidekicks Clear is a "juice" drink box for toddlers. It's completely loaded with the full spectrum of vitamins & protein. It doesn't contain dyes. Granted, it doesn't contain juice, either. However, Klaw pulls the toddler pickiness every once in a while and this drink provides a quick, convenient way to make sure he ingests calories and protein when he refuses to eat a meal. I don't know of any other fat & dye free drinks that also offer protein, so this is the best I could find. Granted, I have no issues giving him Gatorade Prime on occasion, if the situation and energy expenditure warrants it.

We plan for the unexpected each trip each trip, whether it be traffic delays or just an overexertion by Klaw at play. We always have some of these convenience foods tucked away in Klaw's bookbag (our diaper bag) in case he needs a snack or if we just decide we want to go to a restaurant to eat. We can't take it for granted that we'll be able to find something for him to eat on the fly.

Do you have an "convenience" foods you keep on hand for your kids? What are they?

I Loved College!

Tweet So, the other night, I saw Asher Roth on a show and in honor of his song, "I Love College", I would like to write about why I loved college. All six years of it. There are definitely lines in his song that I can relate to, but I forego putting my reasons for loving college into a song.

Please note the long hair & earrings. EARRINGS! -DanaK

1. Freedom. Now it's not like I didn't have freedom in high school but you have so much more in college. Come and go as you please. Stay out until all hours. Option to skip class.

2. Fraternity Life. Prior to college I made fun of fraternities. And I do say fraternities and not frat. You don't call your country a c....you get the idea. In fact, I vividly remember driving by my future fraternity when I arrived on campus and mocking them. Anyways, joining the fraternity was one of the best decisions of my life. I made terrific friends, learned to appreciate the views of others, and always had someone to share a beer with. Of course, there were parties and socials but I'll get to that.

3. Parties, socials, and mixers. I was not a partier in high school and, in fact, didn't drink until I got to college. I didn't always drink in college, though, even at some parties, and they were still awesome. As a popular fraternity with many members, we had a large social budget which meant numerous and large parties. We had awesome bands, awesome themes, and an awesome time. Social events with sororities were fun, also.

Long hair, a necklace, and EARRINGS! - DanaK

4. College football games. There is no better way to spend a Saturday. Case closed.

5. Pre-gaming for college football games. There is no better way to spend a Saturday morning before a college football game. It didn't matter how late I was up on Friday night, come 8am Saturday morning I would be up, dressed in the most ridiculous outfit I could find, and drinking screwdrivers while dancing to loud music. It was also fun to watch some of the other guys walk over to sororities buck naked and see the look on the girls' faces when they answered the door.

6. Road Trips. Memorable times with good friends. Trips to Notre Dame, New Orleans, and every city along A1A in Florida including West Palm, Miami, and Key West. Nothing like sleeping in parking lots and bathing in the ocean.

Yes. That's a crab. And a goatee. Shenanigans. -DanaK

7. No responsibility. Ok there was some responsibility to be had but it was nothing compared to what it's like to be a grown-up.

There are plenty more reasons I loved college but this blog has to end at some point. Would I go back to college? Of course, but I don't think it would be as fun. That and I would be that creepy older guy everyone talks about...

Ritani Stackable Rings #Giveaway #Contest

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Okay, y'all...at Blissdom, I had the opportunity to get a manicure AND create a stackable ring set with Ritani Designs. I am not a huge jewelry fan but I had seen these stackable rings before and liked them for their simplicity and versatility.

I was not about to pass up a chance to possibly win a set of my own.

The official rules involve lots of words & legal information, so I'm not covering it all in this blog post. If you are interested in the official rules, pop me an email and I will be happy to send them to you.

Here's the breakdown:

1 - If I win the contest, one of my lucky readers will ALSO have the opportunity to win the same set. (it's a twofer!) ~winners are responsible for taxes, etc~

2 - You have to have a Pinterest account to vote! (let me know if you still need an invite)

3 - Go to my Ritani Board on Pinterest & "like" it. You'll see the Facebook "like" button at the top, right by my board's name, "Really What Were We Thinking." 

this is what the board looks like

Also, I checked to find out if Ritani has a position on "blood" diamonds, and this is directly from their website:

Ritani has a zero tolerance policy in regard to conflict diamonds. We only purchase diamonds through companies who, like us, adhere to the Kimberley Process. For a complete description of the Kimberley Process, please click on the link below.

Kimberley Process

Please let me know if you have any questions!

This post is not "sponsored" by Ritani nor is it required by Ritani but I dang sure want to win.

Updated 3/6/12 @ 7:26pm

Top 12 Posts of 2011

Tweet To close out 2011, I am using one of Mama Kat's prompts to justify listing some of my favorite blog posts.  This is definitely an exercise in self-love.  I hope you enjoy the list & maybe find a post that you haven't seen before.  Feel free to comment on the original post...some of them are quite controversial.

Just a little family shot to make things more interesting

January

The Dish on Diapers - a one stop shop for information and links regarding our switch to cloth diapering.  I compiled all of the information I wanted when I first began researching cloth diapers into one post.

February


You & Me, Free to Disagree - I pretty much got tired of people taking my personal parenting decisions as an attack on their different choices. I made my choices because, yes, I DO think they are the best choices. Who the hell decides to do something they don't think is the best choice? I share information, resources, and freely discuss the reasons & facts behind my decisions and I will continue to do so.

March

Klaw's Birth Story - I finally posted Klaw's birth story on his first birthday. It was definitely a birth I would have...complete with me calling a nurse a bitch. (In my defense, she WAS one!)

April

Jessica - The mood struck me to write about my friend, Jessica. She was taken from this world all too soon and my heart still grieves her loss.  She was a beautiful soul and everyone who knew her was better for it.

May

Never Forgotten - For Memorial Day, I wrote about my friend, Chris.  He was killed in Iraq while saving another soldier's life.

June

Spanking: The Problem or the Solution? - Yep. I tackle one of the big ones. I think it went pretty well.
Feather Hair Extensions - I'm cheating & doing two this month because I REALLY REALLY REALLY wish more people would read this & let the roosters live.

July

WTH is wrong with my face? - Totally worth looking at my almost anaphylactic face. I'm going to eat shrimp again sometime in the near future. I'll post it if my face swells up again.

August

10 Tips for Starting a Blog -  If you learn nothing else, turn off CAPTCHA.
Choices NOT Chains: Raising Our Daughters - A blog post set me off on a rant about we raise our daughters.

September

Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week - I hosted guest posts for Mitochondrial Disease Awareness Week. I hope you'll take a minute to read & share something that is very personal & important to our family.

October

Run a Marathon, Give Birth, Who Cares? - Yep. I'm ranting again - this time, I was set off by people judging the mom who ran a marathon & gave birth a few hours later.

November

Stupid Husband Tricks - This is the funniest video I've ever seen.  You can tell.  It was hilarious when I was filming it.

December

An Open Letter to Santa Claus - Contrary to what you might think, my mother actually found this funny.  A commenter got huffy with me and I quite possibly overreacted.  I wouldn't be me if I didn't overreact every now & again.

1.) The year in blog posts...choose a favorite post from each month of 2011 and share.

Top 10 Reasons the West Coast is Better Than the East Coast

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Chris has been on a blogging roll lately...

If you know me at all you know that I would prefer to live back on the West Coast any day of the week. How could you not? I talk about it constantly and even dish out a West Coast "W" whenever I can.

Chris at Yosemite - Half Dome in the background

So to even further my push of the West coast and to continually remind myself how much I love it, I decided to let everyone know why the West coast is better than the East. I've lived in both, although a significantly longer amount on the East, and it's not even close. Of course, this is just one man's opinion. I encourage you to develop your own.

In no particular order.....

1. Better Scenery. Snow-capped Olympics and Cascades, Mt. Rainier, Yosemite NP, Big Sur, San Diego, Palm Springs, etc. versus the Appalachians and Florida beaches. I prefer mountains, real mountains, so this is a no brainer. While the Florida beaches are nicer, the West coast wins on mountains alone. By the way, Yosemite NP is the most beautiful place on Earth.

Pebble Beach

2. More Animal-friendly. Not to say there aren't animal-friendly people and places on the East coast, but there are just so many more out West. From animal-friendly restaurants to huge, I mean huge, off-leash dog parks and beaches to numerous no-kill animal rescue organizations, the East coast can't compete.

Samson, Holly, & Boomer chillin' at a winery

3. Better Radio Stations. Okay, I'm sure this is up for debate, but let me tell you. I've heard songs on the West coast that didn't make it to the East coast until months later. And Seattle? Forget about it. You don't move to the West coast to make it on the radio stations.

4. Better attitude. Everyone who has lived on the West coast will tell you that things are just more laid back. It's no lie. A stress-free, care-free life is so much healthier (and more fun) than an up-tight, care-what-people-think attitude. Not saying the entire East coast is like this, but it seems to be the case that the further you get from DC and politics, the more laid back life is.

San Francisco - Golden Gate Bridge

5. West Coast Time Zone. Yeah, so in the fall I can wake up at 6am, walk the dogs, turn on College GameDay at 7am, see my first game at 9am, even catch the night games, and be able to go out after it's all over.

6. Wine, Wine, Wine. From Washington all the way down to California, there are so many wineries. In many areas, you don't have to drive any more than 5 miles in any direction to have 15-20 wineries. And they are good.

a vineyard in Sonoma Valley

7. Beer, Beer, Beer. I will argue until I'm blue in the face that the beer on the West Coast is better and more plentiful. I could name several dozen breweries that are awesome but all of my favorites are out West. Green Flash, Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada, and Pyramid are just a few.

8. More National Parks. Yeah, this kind of relates to the scenery, but it's worthy of its own number. Just pull out a National Park map and you will see that the West Coast has so many more.

Crater Lake & Mt Rainier

9. Better Food. You can find the same genre of foods on the East coast, but all of the genres taste better, in my opinion out West. All of my favorite restaurants are out there.

10. More environmentally-friendly. People on the West Coast care about the environment and go out of their way to show it. A lot of companies don't charge to recycle, and even if they did, everyone would still do it

So that's it. I'll say again, this is my opinion. There are a couple of things that are worse on the West Coast (cost of living) but they don't even compare to the great things out there. If you haven't been, please go. I can recommend numerous places.  Especially if it involves camping, beer, or wine.  Just ask.

What's your opinion on the East Coast vs West Coast?  Do you have a favorite of the two?

Fall Fun = Football #VlogTalk

Tweet Look, we love football around here.

We LOVE football.

It's Saturday...you need to find us...just stop by our house.  We'll be watching football all day long.  We might even be eating some delicious Lime, Apricot, & Soy Sauce Wings.

Unless, of course, we are watching from the STADIUM!

1) What is your favorite fall tradition?

Lime, Apricot, & Soy Sauce Wings #VlogTalk

Tweet We are from The South, so college football is only slightly less important than God & family.

College football = Tailgating
Tailgating = Chicken Wings

Our friend, Crystal, found a recipe for delicious chicken wings in Gourmet Magazine (December 1999 ed) and cooked them for a party a few years later.  Everyone fell in love with her the wings, so she shared the recipe with us all.  It has since become a staple college football food for us and Chris is the master chef.

If you are short on time & delight in the pain of others, just skip to 2:50...


Lime, Apricot, & Soy Sauce Chicken Wings
Serves: 8 adults plus 10 children in appetizer portions
(or just Dana & Chris)

Ingredients: 
8lbs chicken wings
1 cup fresh lime juice (~10 limes)
1 cup apricot preserves
1 cup soy sauce
2/3 cup sugar
4 large garlic cloves

Special Equipment:
2 large disposable roasting pans

Method:
-Preheat oven to 425°
-Evenly divide wings in a single layer in 2 roasting pans
-Purée remaining ingredients & pour over wings
-Bake wings in upper & lower thirds of the oven for ~45
-Stir wings and switch oven positions for the pans
-Bake wings for 45min-1hr, until liquid becomes thick & sticky


Wings can be served hot or at room temperature.


Notes: 
-We have successfully halved the recipe for smaller groups.
-Watch the time during the second half of baking. We have used four different ovens, electric & gas, with this recipe & they all required slightly different cooking times to avoid "blackened" wings.
-This particular recipe can be rather messy, so if you are opposed to using disposable roasting pans, please allow yourself several hours to clean, which is fine if you hate football.

1)  Are you ready for some football?  What is your favorite tailgating (or couch-watching) football food to make?

The Silver Bullet

Tweet A few of my readers may have fond memories of my first car, The Silver Bullet. She was a 1990 Volkswagen Fox and I loved her dearly.

Here are the specs:
-standard transmission
-two doors
-one side-view mirror (yeah, having a mirror on the passenger's side was evidently an option)
-a clock - a regular old clock NOT a digital clock
-a/c that never had anything wrong with it, yet never worked
-four seat belts, but easily fit 8 teenage girls
-surprising willingness to handle off-road conditions, extreme weather
-eventually, I broke the lights on the dashboard so my speed at night was always a guess
-for a while, I could only get in through the passenger door or my window because some lame idiot at my college bashed my driver's side door handle in. Jackass.


Thus begins the life & times of The Silver Bullet...

Wesleyan College: A Pictorial

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Hail, Wesleyan, thou emblem of all that is grand;

The noblest, the greatest, in all our fair land.

Thine ideals are honored, thy name always blest;

 

A fountain of knowledge, the oldest and best.

A star in the dark is thy glorious past,

Forever and ever thy glory shall last.

Upholding thine ideals, thy daughters shall be

True, faithful, and loyal, dear Wesleyan, to thee.

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Tweet I guess you could call this the Television Edition...

1 - DJ Lance Rock & the rest of the Yo Gabba Gabba crew...but especially DJ Lance.

YEAH! My name is Dana and I like to DANCE!!!

2 - The Hot Dog Dance

We can literally sing random words to this tune and it calms Klaw right down.  Amazing.

3 - Movie Credits - that's it.  Just the credits.  Why?  Because Klaw LOVES them.  Something about words scrolling up a screen is completely mesmerizing.  Five minutes can be a beautiful thing with a VERY ACTIVE toddler!

4 - YouTube - just look at the videos posted above.  We can load those onto our iPhone YouTube apps almost any time and my Highlander even lets me play the sound through my stereo system.  What a wondrous, wondrous invention!

5 - DVR - Chris & I don't watch a lot of shows on a regular basis but there are a few we really enjoy.  With DVR we can record those few shows and watch them whenever we please.  This means if we get an invitation to get out of our house & meet up with friends (hint hint)...we don't have to miss our shows!  We didn't get DVR until there was an offer through Dish Network for free DVR. We never knew what we were missing.  Oh, we also have many episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse & Yo Gabba Gabba recorded...just in case...

Righting Past Wrongs

Tweet Several years ago, while Chris & I were living in California, Jimmy Buffett had a show in San Francisco right around the time of our anniversary. I had the Ticketmaster page open & all Chris needed to do was enter our debit card information & click "submit."

Evidently, that hint was not obvious enough.

I just found out that Jimmy Buffett is coming to Virginia Beach this May. Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10am.

Chris - this is your chance to right a past wrong & make me finally shut up about San Francisco.

Update 12MAR2011: Jimmy Buffett tickets did not actually go on sale at LiveNation until 10:20am EST.  Yes, I sat there & refreshed the page for 20 minutes. I immediately tried to purchase tickets and failed.  The General Admission/Lawn tickets are $30 apiece ($46 with fees) and the scalpers are selling those tickets for $114 apiece ALREADY!!!  Sorry.  As much as I love Jimmy Buffett, I am not spending $228 on two tickets.

Blogs of Note

Tweet Storing Up Treasures is one of my favorite blogs.  That shouldn't be a surprise since I've had the blog button posted on my sidebar for a few months now. The biggest reason I enjoy Courtney's blog is because of the  honesty and the vulnerability in her writing.  It truly feels like she is chatting with you, her dearest friend, over coffee.  There doesn't seem to be a whole lot I have in common with her or her life on the surface (well, if you count our four-legged children as part of the family - maybe), but I find the story of her & her family compelling and, oftentimes, inspiring.  I don't always agree with her point of view but I respect the way she presents her beliefs and often find myself thinking more deeply about my own beliefs & values.

Courtney has set aside a list of interesting blogs from which she will choose a featured blog each month.






Her "Blogs of Note" inspired me to set aside a special area to showcase some of our favorite blogs.  Take a minute to check out Storing Up Treasures and some of Courtney's Blogs of Note.

As of this posting, our separate list of blogs is still under construction.

The Dish on Diapers

Tweet I've been working on this post for a while.  Cloth diapering is one of my newest loves.  Maybe you are interested in checking out cloth diapering options.  Maybe you think I'm absolutely insane for switching to cloth. I don't know...I just hope this post can help you learn more about cloth diapering and maybe, just maybe, encourage you to make the switch (or at least quit saying, "ick" "gross" "yuck" "it's too hard" every time someone mentions cloth diapers).

These are a few of my favorite things...

Tweet 1 - Instagr.am - I love this little iPhone app.  It makes my crappy iPhone pictures look cute!

2 - Draft Cider - A cider a day keeps the doctor away.

3 - California Baby Calendula Cream -This stuff is great!  It is soothing to the skin, great for minor scratches or skin irritation, and it smells good, boot. I use it on Klaw and myself.  Perfume makes me fairly nauseated (it only got worse during pregnancy) but I could smell calendula all day long.

4 - Springtime, Inc. Longevity Powder - This supplement has worked wonders for our dogs. Samson was prone to hot spots & fairly regular GI issues.  Boomer had several outbreaks of demodex mange, which is related to immune system issues and is not contagious. Since adding this supplement (we also eventually upgraded their food to Innova Evo), both dogs have rarely had any issues.  Their poop is fine (hey - it's a great indicator of health!!!), their skin & coat is healthy, and they continue to act younger than their ages.

5 - Northland Cranberry/Pomegranate 100% Juice - It's good.  That is all.

*Disclaimer - I receive absolutely nothing for doing these lists.*

Babywearing

Tweet I am often asked about babywearing by friends and family members. Most people who know me know that I go a bit overboard when something interests me and I try to find out as much as possible...almost to the point of obsession!  However, this also means that I rarely have an opinion that I can't back up with decent research.  I decided to create a blog entry to cover what I have shared with other people.  Keep in mind, this is just my personal opinion!  I am not paid by any companies nor have I received any free items (although, I would love to get some free stuff! hahaha).

Here goes....

These are a few of my favorite things...

Tweet 1 - Pseudoephedrine - No, I'm not a tweeker.  It's the only decongestant that actually works.  In fact, I'm pretty angry that meth addicts have made it so that we have to jump through hoops to obtain this magical, sinusitis relieving medication.

2 - Whole Foods App for iPhone - This app is awesome.  I can search for recipes by diet (vegetarian, vegan, low-fat, gluten free, etc), meal (breakfast, appetizer, dinner, etc) and by category (one-pot, budget, quick & easy).  I can then make a grocery list based on the recipe and edit that list as I see fit by adding or removing items.  It also gives me the ability to email the recipe to other people.

3 - Chris Bra' - Yep, I'm thankful for my husband.  He flew home this weekend and spent each night in the hospital with Klaw so that I could get some sleep at home.

4 - Half-caf coffee - Yes, I know this is a repeat but it has earned the recognition.

5 - Health Insurance - Even with insurance, Klaw's medical bills are stacking up (especially since the deductible started over Oct 01).  Even with a stable income, we would be hard pressed to afford his bills if we did not have Tricare covering the bulk of the costs.  This experience is making me more compassionate towards people who support a national health insurance program.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Tweet 1 - Borax - WOW!  I never thought I'd love something so much.  This stuff is AWESOME!  It will clean absolutely ANYTHING!  I scrubbed off some gunk on the fan above the stove that had been there, I'm sure, for years and it came off like buttah!  I have since scrubbed pans, cookie sheets, & a tea kettle.  I have also added it to the dishwasher - where it helped clean off some of the hard water calcification build up AND got our utensils & glasses super shiny.  ***LOVE***

2 - Mei Tai baby carriers - I am going to get a custom mei tai made by NuzzleMe Creations and sell my beloved BabyHawk "Alice" to a dear friend with a little one on the way.  I have sadly realized that the straps are "petite" and I need "extra long" straps to do back carries.  My lucky friend is the definition of petite, so I hope she loves Alice as much as I do.  I have officially decided that I am a mei tai mama and not a wrap mama.

3 - Half-caf coffee - I rarely, if ever, consumed caffeine before I got pregnant.  Now, I need it to function.  Full-caf coffee makes me too jittery and sick feeling.  Decaf, obviously, has no "ooomph."  Half-caf gives me just the jolt I need to help me get over the fact that I sleep in 2.5 hour shifts and gave birth to a "morning" baby.

4 - Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters - Read some of my previous posts and you'll get a full picture of what this hospital means to me.  In addition to the specialists working with Klaw, our pediatrician group is also a part of CHKD.

5 - Vidalia Onions - I still eat these babies raw.  Sorry, folks, the Walla Walla, Mayan Sweet, or any of the numerous other "sweet" onions cannot hold a candle to the Vidalia.  You haven't had a sweet onion until a Vidalia has touched your tongue.

More to come in future postings...