Friday, November 29, 2013

Keto Apple Pie {Ketogenic Diet}

 The one food Owen was upset about not having for Thanksgiving was apple pie. He kept hanging out at the table when I was making them and trying to "help".  I'd seen some "apple pie" recipes for the ketogenic diet before, but they were mostly just baked apples with lots of butter and cream. I knew my little guy would want crust. So, I came up with this recipe.
 Remember the Ketogenic Diet should only be done under medical supervision and you must follow your (or your child's) prescription. Do not use Owen's recipe exactly unless you have exactly the same calorie and ratio needs. If you need help converting this recipe to your requirements SEE HERE.

Keto Apple Pie
263 calories at a 3.01:1 ratio

Apple, raw -without skin  sliced thinly 29g
cinnamon, ground .5g
Truvia sweetener 3.5g
butter 3g

Melt the butter in a small ramekin dish. Mix apples, Truvia, and cinnamon together. Pour into pan and bake at 350F until apples are soft (how long depends on how thin the apple slices are).

Meanwhile mix together 
butter, melted 4g
egg, raw mixed well 7g
Ketocuisine 5:1 baking mix 26g
with water as necessary to make a slightly pourable dough.
 

When apples are cooked through, pour the dough over top (scrape, scrape, scrape) and put back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until the top is slightly browned. Cool to desired temperature and serve!

For a higher ratio you could add whipped cream on top before serving.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love the various poses the kids took either trying to be caught on camera or trying not to be caught on camera.
My stepdaughter Kristi and her husband Simon( and baby still hiding for another 6 months).
My Dad who still has one more surgery scheduled this year ( 4 already).
Owen who turned down food when offered by the one person who didn't know he couldn't have it.
Brenna slept all through dinner.
Terminator Morgan
Devon only tried to take pictures of me while I was eating.

 Have I mentioned how thankful I am for my family? Not only do I have beautiful, brilliant children (I know, everyone has beautiful, brilliant children that's the way it's supposed to be) and a wonderful husband who helps me take care of them, but I have a whole bunch of other amazing family members (some not even technically related to me). Unfortunately my sister had to work so she was unable to attend Thanksgiving, but we still got to spend the day with my nephews because their Dad and his wife are still family. I love that my stepdaughter and her husband were able to join us this year. And I love the fact that I didn't have to cook everything!


 I am thankful for having too much to eat. For having to decide between turkey and ham (yes, I actually had both) and between six different desserts! I'm even more thankful for having leftovers so I don't have to cook hardly at all tomorrow! I'm thankful for having a warm home to come back to and a safe place to sleep tonight.
Buddy was also thankful that there was too much food and little kids to feed some of it to him!


Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Thanksgiving Baking

 Today I made 3 loaves of cinnamon swirl bread,
 One chocolate pie (whipped cream to be added tomorrow)'
 One lemon pie (meringue to be added tomorrow so it doesn't get weepy),
 Two apple pies (I overstuffed them so the tops cracked, but they'll still taste good),
 Two cherry pies ( some of the cinnamon sugar from the swirl bread leaked on them),
 Sixty rolls, and
 a tray of poor man's pie out of what was left of the leftover pie dough after my kids ate as much as they wanted raw (my kids love to eat raw dough)!

Tomorrow I need to do the meringue, the whipped cream, mashed potatoes, ham from our own piggies, and a few odds and ends I am too tired to think of right now. Then we're going over to my nephew's Dad's house for Thanksgiving dinner! I can't wait!







Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Owen Update {Ketogenic Diet}


 Owen likes to play video games on our Wii. I've always been very careful about how much time our other kids have spent playing video games. With Owen having so much difficulty the last few years with simple things like walking without falling over (due to a combination of the medication and the seizures), we've let him play a lot more than probably all of the other kids combined. The Ketogenic Diet has made a huge improvement on Owen's cognitive and motor skills. Before we started the diet, he couldn't do puzzles, he couldn't thread beads, and while he enjoyed playing video games he couldn't actually do very much. He would have to ask for help because his hands would shake so much, he couldn't point the controller at the screen. Now that he has been on the diet for a few months all of those skills are coming back. Today he came up to me and said "My Keto diet helped me beat the bad guy!". That's right, not only has the diet helped Owen regain his skills, it has made enough of a difference that OWEN is aware of how much it's helping him. This is really big! Since Owen has started realizing how much better he is doing on the diet, he has been so much better about compliance. He reminds us to put gloves on him when he's doing something that could be a hazard on the diet. He's also really good about not using any soaps or lotions that aren't keto approved. Today we filled up at a gas station right next door to McDonald's (Owen's favorite restaurant that used to be his reward for hospital visits). Instead of whining and crying about going, Owen just said "I wish McDonald's was on my keto diet!", and then dropped the subject! I'm just so proud of him.

 Owen has also gained almost 4 pounds since starting the diet. I'm actually starting to get a little worried that he's gaining too fast. I just had to let out the buttonhole elastic on his jeans. He now wears a 4 slim without having to pull the buttonhole elastic as tight as possible. He was underweight before due to the tube weaning and other feeding issues so it's nice to see him at what is probably an appropriate weight. He seems so chubby though since all of my kids have been extremely skinny (Cameron is currently 5"5" and weighs less than 90lbs) once they started moving. I'm just hoping we don't have to cut his calories since he still thinks he's being starved to death.

 The one thing I'm not liking about Owen's development right now is that he's turning into quite a tattletale. I'm assuming it's an age thing not a keto or seizure thing. He makes sure to tell us every time a sibling is mean to him, usually it's  Brenna. "Brenna hit me. That's a bad thing not a good thing, right?" or "Daddy tried to use the wrong soap on me. That's bad isn't it?" I'm glad he's learning right and wrong  and I'm even happier that he's realizing what items are alright for him to use on his diet, but he tends to be a bit obsessive. That means that I'm still hearing daily about the time TWO MONTHS AGO that Daddy used the wrong soap on him.

 So, today the kids were jumping on the bed and, of course, Owen fell off and conked his head. Well, he was convinced that someone had pushed him off. I told him that I hadn't been keeping an eye on them (I was making lunch at the time), so I didn't know for sure if someone had pushed him on purpose or not.  Fast forward a few hours and I was at the fabric store with the four youngest after dropping Connor and Cameron off at work and lessons respectively. I had bonked Brenna's head on the door while getting everyone out of the car .She was fine, just wanted held for a minute, but that reminded Owen about his head injury earlier. So, the whole time we were in the store picking out buttons for Brenna's new sweater, he kept saying things like: " I hurt my head! ", " I got pushed on the floor!", and best of all, " You weren't keeping an eye on me!", "I got hurt because you didn't keep and eye on me". Just what you want everyone around you hear your kid say in public, right? We eventually made it out of the store without anyone calling Child Protective Services on us, but I don't think I'll be getting that Mother of the Year Award anytime soon!


Monday, November 25, 2013

Finished Projects!

 I planned to have THIS sweater finished by the end of the weekend, but I didn't quite make it. I wove the last end in about 12:15 this morning! I still need to find buttons, but that wasn't part of my plan since I was pretty sure I didn't have 6 of the right buttons in my button box and I was right. I'll look for buttons tomorrow while I'm in town. Brenna has already worn the sweater for several hours today despite it's unbuttoned, unwashed, and unblocked state. I think she likes it!
 The other project that got finished this weekend was Connor's. He put his new Lego set together (with a little "help" from Brenna).
 I don't remember Legos being quite this detailed when I was a kid. This was over 1100 pieces! Connor has such amazing patience for projects like this. 

 I'm trying to decide which project to work on next, I get a little overwhelmed sometimes and then start a whole bunch of things all at once and don't end up finishing them until I force myself to choose just one. I think I'll start on Brenna's doll until I get to the part where I need the sewing machine, then I'll take a break and finish Devon's friend's dress. Then I'll go back to the doll.
 I do this with other things too. Right now I'm actually reading four books which is a little excessive even for me. I usually have 2 or 3 going at the same time, but 4 is too many. I need to choose just one for a while until I finish it. I guess this is my way of dealing with holiday craziness, get totally frazzled and try to do everything at once only to end up finishing nothing!






Sunday, November 24, 2013

Paintball Party!

Cam is wearing Morgan's hat and a Taekwondo sparring helmet. No, I don't know why.
 Thursday night we had cake and let Connor open his present, but we saved the real party until Sunday!
Owen got to help blow out candles and open the present since he couldn't eat any cake.
Connor got a big Star Wars Lego set.
 Sunday, the three older kids and two of their friends went to play paintball! We had free admission coupons, so we only had to pay for paintballs and CO2. The players got to act out different scenarios, like a presidential assassination attempt (Cameron got to be Secret Service) and a Hunger Games type free for all. The kids had a blast! Daddy had fun too! The admission even came with free admission again next week, so the kids plan to go back (using their own money).
 Check out these battle wounds!