Start of Week 2

The boys were so tired last night, so I let them sleep a little later this morning. I was certain that I could still get them ready in plenty of time to catch the bus. JG was REALLY tired, b/c he had a really hard time falling asleep last night. Isn't it funny how exhaustion can make you too tired to fall asleep? Poor baby!

Breakfast was a failure this fine Monday morning! Who knew that GF/CF pancakes are only good when they're fresh?! In the days of Pre-GF/CF, I would do huge batches of pancakes from scratch on some weekends & freeze them for the weekday mornings. I thought that I was some kind of smart, b/c I had made several extra pancakes yesterday morning so the boys could have something different for their Monday morning breakfast. When B started complaining I chalked it up as one of his many 'tween grumblings, but then JG refused to eat them as well. Once I got in to the kitchen by myself, I took a bite of the discarded pancakes. They really were gross! They had become very dry & grainy - like they were made completely of cornmeal. I'm sure that cornmeal cakes are fine for some, but we just aren't accustomed to them - no matter how much syrup you put on them.

For lunch I packed JG some chicken & rice that I made last night, along w/ some steamed baby carrots, and some grapes. He was also lucky enough to score one of the last pieces of the GF/CF chocolate cake for his snack.

While I do plan on beginning to experiment w/ various "from scratch" baking recipes, this particular cake is from the line of GF/CF products that Betty Crocker has started producing. I'm pretty impressed w/ the amount of products that they offer. Their site is very helpful, as well - even offering print outs of their GF/CF products to make grocery shopping a little easier. However, we were not a meal out of the box family before GF/CF, and we will not become a meal out of the box family b/c of the novelty of these particular products. They've just been an inexpensive way for me to throw JG a treat here & there until I'm able to stock up on the unusual & costly baking supplies that are required for GF/CF baking.

And, drum roll, please! The meal that I'm patting myself on the back for was our dinner. I went to the store looking for a deal on some "happy cow" ground beef. (Happy Cow = Organic Beef) I was unable to find beef, but I did find some Springer Mt. Farms chicken on manager's special. So,... we had chicken fajita salad! It was yummy!! So yummy that both of the boys want leftovers for their lunch tomorrow! SCORE!!!!