Ah, Monday!

After the tired, sleepy weekend, (yes, we're onto week three of being sick - the latest one to fall victim to this unnamed bug is me!) Monday was reading day. Sandra Boynton is quickly becoming a favorite of Bombie's with the cartoon animals. We might just need to head out to the library again: we're going through our books pretty fast!

Library visit

The baby is on the mend! Woohoo! To celebrate our family's increasing recovery after two weeks of sickness, I took them to our local public library. They love going there. Why? Well, for one, it's the only place I will let them play games on the computer. For another, we always come back with a nice stack of books we read over the next week or two. Books for them and books for me! (Mostly about them and raising them right, but that's okay.)

Planes!

Is been two weeks now that someone in the home has been sick. Carver has been the latest one in phase two of the sickness currently with a constant runny nose and elevated temperature. Needless to say we're spending a lot of time indoors.
Today we read about the Wright brothers and then made paper planes.
In addition the current battle with the older kids is to get them to put their toys away when they're done playing with them. It's a tough one but they're learning. Slowly. After all, it's taken me thirty four years! ;)

Homemade playdough

I've never tried making it myself. But we did today! So fun. Food coloring and glitter made it even more exciting for the kids. So much so that quiet time today really is quiet!

Sorting beans

The older kids sorted beans today and did a pretty good job too! Carver is sick as you can see in the background. Bombie took all of fifteen minutes to sort Lima and Pinto beans into baby food jars. Hucksley had a slightly harder time and I had to help him toward the end because he got a little frustrated.

Paleo Allergen-Free Banana Pumpkin Muffins

Don't you just love it when you just happen to "throw something together" and it just works out and tastes great? Well, I love to bake (especially now that fall is here!) but before my Paleo days, stuff I just threw together looked and tasted like, well, stuff I had just thrown together. But since Paleo... aha, since Paleo...

Take today's lovely muffins for example.

Yup. That one. You'll notice that the cups around it are empty - that's because that's how fast they were gone. I even got a genuine compliment from a six-year-old. He said, and I quote, "Those were the best muffins I've ever eaten!" Yeah!

So, on to the recipe...

BANANA - PUMPKIN MUFFINS (nut-free, dairy-free, egg-free, grain-free)
Ingredients:
3 bananas, mashed
1.5 cups shredded coconut (NOT coconut flour)
1.5 cups pureed pumpkin
2 - 3 tablespoons raw honey
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 - 2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt

Method:
Mix all ingredients together and fill muffins liners almost to the top. Bake in an oven preheated to 350F for 20 - 25 minutes and enjoy!

(Makes 12.)

You Haven't Really Had a Paleo Breakfast...

.... until you've had one of these with eggs.

And what might that be? Sweet potato hash browns in a really bad picture! (I guess they're called garnet yams around these parts, but I have since learned that we don't really get real yams here and what we're used to calling yams are just really sweet potatoes.) But seriously, if you miss potatoes even a little on the Paleo diet, try shredding up some peeled sweet potatoes, fry them like you would hash browns, salt and pepper and serve with fried or poached eggs. 

Seriously. The. Best. Breakfast. Ever. :)