GF baking

Mike has been itching to use the new KitchenAid, but honestly gluten-free baking still scares the crap out of me. Too many flours and ingredients and no guarantee that it will even be edible, let alone taste good. So, today at the grocery store, I splurged on a Betty Crocker GF brownie mix (at $5 a box, for an 8x8 pan, this will definitely not be a regular occurrence) just so Mike could play.

I’m still not sold on the mixer (it kind of means I have to cook from scratch) but I’m guessing the day will come when I am ready for that.

Until then, the kids seemed to think the GF batter was just as good as the original. The brownies weren’t too bad either.

Superheroes celebrate Valentine’s Day, too

My little superheroes had a grand old time filling out their Valentine’s Day cards this year. This was definitely the easiest year for me. The hardest part was picking out the actual cards at Target. The boys – all three of them – stood in that one little section of the aisle for at least 20 minutes hemming and hawing over what to get. Nick finally ended up with basic cards and Nerds candy. Zander picked Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles with turtle head erasers, and Benny picked Monsters University.

At home, Nick grabbed his cards and school list and I never saw him again. Zander was almost as easy. Over the course of a couple days he methodically filled out his name and everyone on the class list. A quick check the night before the party revealed he had only missed two friends. Not bad for a kindergartner. Ben scribbled on a few and then I hurriedly filled out the rest 10 seconds before walking out the door on Valentine’s Day. Yep, I totally got it together over here folks.