Is it the winter blues?

Definition of Season Affective Disorder

"Symptoms of SAD may consist of difficulty waking up in the morning, morning sickness, tendency to oversleep and over eat, especially a craving for carbohydrates, which leads to weight gain. Other symptoms include a lack of energy, difficulty concentrating on or completing tasks, and withdrawal from friends, family, and social activities. All of this leads to the depression, pessimistic feelings of hopelessness, and lack of pleasure which characterize a person suffering from this disorder."




Get out and get some sunshine every day.  Make sure your children are getting a little dose of sunshine too!

Fitness Ideas for Kids

Free Fitness Ideas for Kids

They say that 60% of children don't get enough exercise and 80% are at risk for obesity.  I don't want this for my children.  I make sure they get time to run, play, dance and burn off some energy.  The linked page has ideas for indoor as well as outdoor fun.  Get your family moving!!

Just in time for the holidays

GF Candy list Airhead Bars	Perfetti Van Melle
Airheads	Perfetti Van Melle
All Heads Brands Candy	Ferrara Pan
All Natural Pecan Divinity	Dillon Candy
Almond Joy	Hershey’s
Ande’s Mints	Tootsie
Annie’s Bunny Fruit Snacks	Annie’s
Appleheads	Ferrara Pan
Atomic Fireballs	Ferrara Pan
Autumn Peanut Butter Cups	Palmer
Baby Ruth	Nestle
Bag of Boo’s	Palmer
Banana Split & Mint Julep Chews	Necco
Bequet Caramels	Bequet Confections
Bit O’Honey	Nestle
Black Ace Red Licorice	Moon Dance Baking
Black Forest Gummies-All	Ferrara Pan
Boston Baked Beans	Ferrara Pan
Bottle Caps	Wonka
Brach’s Candy Corn	Farley’s & Sathers
Butterfingers (Not giant, crisp, crunch or stixx version)	Nestle
Butterscotch Discs	Farley’s & Sathers
Canada Mint & Wintergreen Lozenges	Necco
Candy Canes	Spangler
Candy Carnival	Tootsie
Candy Corn	Farley’s & Sathers
Candy Stix	Necco
Caramel Creepy Peepers	Palmer
Charleston Chew	Tootsie
Charm Cotton Candy Lollipops	Tootsie
Sweet & Sour Charms	Tootsie
Charms Blow Pops, Flat & Mini	Tootsie
Cherry Sours	Ferrara Pan
Chewy Atomic Fireballs	Ferrara Pan
Chewy Lemonhead & Friends	Ferrara Pan
Chewy Mix	Farley’s & Sathers
Child’s Play	Tootsie
Chocolate Almonds	Ferrara Pan
Chocolate Peanuts	Ferrara Pan
Chocolate Raisins	Ferrara Pan
Chocolate Wafers	Glutino
Chupa Chups Fruit Lollipops	Perfetti Van Melle
Cinnamon Discs & Imps	Farley’s & Sathers
Circus Peanuts	Spangler
Clark Bars	Necco
Cotton Candy Fluffy Stuff	Tootsie
Crows	Tootsie
Cry Baby Tears, Gumballs & Twist Gum	Tootsie
DairyGood Pumpkin Pals	Palmer
Dots	Tootsie
Dove Bar	Mars
Dove Chocolates	Mars
Dum Dums	Spangler
Enjoy Life Foods Chocolate Bars	Enjoy Life
Eye Candy Mix	Palmer
Fluffy Stuff Cotton Candy	Tootsie
Fright Bites	Palmer
Frooties	Tootsie
Fruit Slices	Farley’s & Sathers
Fruit Snacks	Ferrara Pan
Fun Dip & Fun Dip Sour	Wonka
Gobstoppers	Wonka
Goobers	Nestle
Grapeheads	Ferrara Pan
Gum Drops	Sathers
Gummi Bears	Trolli
Gummi Worms	Farley’s & Sathers
Gummies	Sathers
Gummies	Wonka
Gummies	Ferrara Pan
Gummy Candies	Trolli
Haribo Gold Bears	Haribo
Haviland Peppermint	Necco
Haviland Thin Mints	Necco
Haviland Wintergreen Patties	Necco
Heath Bar	Hershey’s
Hershey’s Drops-Plain & Cookies’N Cream	Hershey’s
Hershey’s Bars – Milk Chocolate	Hershey’s
Hershey’s Kisses, Hugs & Kissables	Hershey’s
Hot Tamales	Just Born
Jaw Breakers	Ferrara Pan
Jellies-All	Ferrara Pan
Jelly Beans	Farley’s & Sathers
Jelly Beans	Just Born
Jelly Beans	Ferrara Pan
Jelly Bellies	Jelly Belly
Jelly Rings	Sather’s
Jolly Rancher Lollipops	Hershey’s
Jolly Ranchers	Hershey’s
JuJubes	Heide
Jujus-All	Ferrara Pan
Jujy Fruits	Heide
Junior Mints	Tootsie
Kazoozles	Wonka
Kraft Caramel	Kraft
Laffy Taffy Plain,Stretchy & Tangy Rope	Wonka
Lemonheads	Ferrara Pan
Life Saver Swirl Pops	Wrigley-Mars
Life Savers Candy & Gummies	Wrigley-Mars
Lollipops	Lollipops
M&M’s-Except Pretzel	Mars
Marshmallow Peeps	Just Born
Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses	Necco
Mary Janes	Necco
Mega Warheads	Impact Confections
Mike & Ike’s	Just Born
Milk Duds	Hershey’s
Milky Way – Simply Caramel & Midnight Bars	Mars
Mister Goodbar	Hershey’s
MixUps	Wonka
Mounds	Hershey’s
Munch Bars	Mars
Necco Wafers	Necco
Nerds	Wonka
Nestle Milk Chocolate	Nestle
Nik L Nip	Tootsie
Nips, Regular & Sugar Free	Nestle
Now & Later, Regular & Soft	Heide
Nut Zippers	Necco
O’Henry	Nestle
Octopus	Trolli
Pay Day	Hershey’s
Peanut Chews	Just Born
Peeps	Just Born
Peppermint Patties	Palmer
Pez	Pez
Pixy Stix	Wonka
Pop Rocks Candy	Pop Rocks
Rain-Blo Pops	Heide
Raisinets	Nestle
Raspberry & Red Hot Dollars	Heide
Razzles	Tootsie
Red Hots	Ferrara Pan
Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – not all sizes	Hershey’s
Reese’s Pieces	Hershey’s
Rolo	Hershey’s
Root Beer Barels	Farley’s & Sathers
Runts and Runts Chewy	Wonka
Safe T Lollipops	Spangler
Shockers	Wonka
Skittles and Skittles Sour	Wrigley-Mars
Skor Bars	Hershey’s
Sky Bars	Necco
Smarties (U.S. Only)	Ce De Candy
Smarties Candy Necklace	Ce De Candy
Smarties Pops and Lollies	Ce De Candy
Smarties Candy Money	Ce De Candy
Snickers Bars	Mars
Snickers Dark Bars	Mars
Sno Caps	Nestle
Sour Jacks	Ferrara Pan
Sour Neon Crawlers	Farley’s & Sathers
Sour Patch Kids / Extreme Sour Patch	Cadbury-Kraft
Sour Patch Soft & Chewy Candy Kids	Cadbury-Kraft
Spearmint Leaves	Farley’s & Sathers
Spice Drops	Farley’s & Sathers
Spree	Wonka
Squirrel Nut Caramels	Necco
St. Claire’s Organics Tart Candies	St. Claire’s
Starburst	Mars
Starburst Jelly Beans	Mars
Starlight Mints	Farley’s & Sathers
Sugar Babies	Tootsie
Sugar Daddy	Tootsie
Sugar Daddy Lollipops	Tootsie
Sunkist Chewy Candies	Jelly Belly
Swedish Fish	Cadbury-Kraft
Sweetarts	Wonka
Talking Pumpkins	Necco
Teenee Beenee	Just Born
Three Musketeers	Mars
Tic Tacs	Tic Tac USA
Tootsie Pop Lollipops	Tootsie
Tootsie Rolls	Tootsie
Tricky Treats	Palmer
Twisted Pumpkins	Palmer
Ultramints	Necco
Wacko-wax Wax Lips	Tootsie
Welch’s Fruit Snacks	Farmers Choice Food Brands
Wonka Runts	Wonka
York Peppermint Patties	Hershey’s
Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops	Betty Mills
Zombies – Chocolate	Palmer
Zours	Just Born

Gluten Free--A definition

Gluten Free Diet Definition

A gluten-free diet is a diet that excludes foods containing gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat (including kamut and spelt), barley, rye, malts and triticale. It is used as a food additive in the form of a flavoring, stabilizing or thickening agent, often as "dextrin". A gluten-free diet is the only medically accepted treatment for celiac disease,^[1] the related condition dermatitis herpetiformis,^[2] and wheat allergy.^[1]

Additionally, a gluten-free diet may exclude oats. Medical practitioners are divided on whether oats are an allergen to celiac disease sufferers^[3] or if they are cross-contaminated in milling facilities by other allergens.^[4]

The term gluten-free is generally used to indicate a supposed harmless level of gluten rather than a complete absence.^[5] The exact level at which gluten is harmless is uncertain and controversial. A recent systematic review tentatively concluded that consumption of less than 10 mg of gluten per day is unlikely to cause histological abnormalities, although it noted that few reliable studies had been done.^[5]Regulation of the label gluten-free varies widely by country. In the United States, the FDA issued regulations in 2007 limiting the use of "gluten-free" in food products to those with less than 20 ppm of gluten.^[6][7] The current international Codex Alimentarius standard allows for 20 ppm of gluten in so-called "gluten-free" foods.^[8]

Gluten Free Pizza Casserole

Pizza Casserole

I am definitely going to try this but using gluten free noodles.  This casserole looks very yummy!  I will report back when we have tried it!

Special Mashed Potatoes

My kids will not eat cauliflower willingly.  I had to get a little creative on getting more vegetables in my kids!  Last night I fixed mashed potatoes my way.  It was half mashed cauliflower and half mashed potatoes.  The kids loved it and couldn't even tell the difference.  The hubby even thought they were great.  This is how I am going to make mashed potatoes from now on!

Gluten Free Baking Items

• Tapioca starch/flour
• Potato flour
• Potato starch
• Cornstarch
• Amaranth and amaranth flour
• White rice flour
• Brown fice flour
• Rice bran
• Sorghum flour
• Buckwheat flour
• Almond flour
• Millet flour
• Teff and Teff flour (teff can be used as a cereal)
• Montina pure baking supplement and gluten-free blends
• Quinoa and quinoa flour
• Soy flour – though I do not recommend anyone use soy products, as they contain an element which reacts similar to estrogen.
• Coconut flour
• Oats and oat flour (only ones labeled gluten-free and pure) See Bob’s Red Mill and Cream Hill Estates
• PrOatina by Montana Gluten-Free (some celiacs with an oat intolerance may tolerate their oat products)
• Timtana (Timothy-grass)
• Peanut flour
• Chickpea flour
• Fava bean flour
• Garbanzo bean flour
• Casava flour
• Oat bran (only ones labeled gluten-free)
• Corn meal (watch for cross contamination)
• Flaxseed meal (mixed with hot water makes a great dairy-free egg replacer)
• Xanthan gum (usually contains corn) See corn-free xanthan gum.
• Guar gum
• Arrowroot
• Eggs (casein-free and dairy-free) I recommend organic eggs.
• Expandex (modified tapiooa starch) – possibly chemically processed
• Methyl cellulose (chemically modified cellulose) – often used as a thickener or gluten substitute in baked goods
• Yeast (and some brewer’s yeast, but not when from beer)
• Vanilla extract and vanilla flavoring (distilling removes all gluten, as is with alcohol)
• Nestle’s chocolate morsels: milk chocolate and semi-sweet
• Baking powder: Rumford’s, Clabber Girl
• Baking Soda
• Ener-G: Egg Replacer – (for those also dairy-free) Haven’t tried it myself.  Read reviews and suggestion here.
• Egg white powder(alhumen / albumin) (El Peto Products has one that is gluten-free)
• Hershey’s Cocoa – Hershey’s does publish a gluten-free list, as ingredients change often.
• Tofu (plain)
• Gelatin
• Agar agar (natural gelatin substitute)
• All cooking oils
• Whey and whey proteins, but are not dairy-free
• Betty Crocker’s Gluten-free Bisquick
• extracts such as: vanilla, almond, etc.

Gluten Free Product List