I'm sick of thinking about food!

It's quarter of 10 and I'm just finishing my long day on the Johansen Ranch. Liberty's school had a teacher planning day so he was home with me all day. He played with his trains and cars on the kitchen floor while I slaved over gluten free/casein free bread, gf/cf cookies, and lots of vegetable puree that I plan on using in Jessica Seinfeld's recipes. If you did not catch her on Oprah last week, she has come out with a cookbook in which she sneaks different vegetable puree into lots of standard recipes that kids love. For instance, she has brownies that contain carrot and spinach puree which, according to the Oprah show, kids ate them and said they were the best brownies they had ever had. Getting Liberty to eat a brownie or anything that does not crunch could be a challenge. I, however, am up to that challenge. I just want to start offering more food that he can have, whether he eats it or not. At least I will have presented it. That's the theory anyway. Jessica Seinfeld has a recipe for chicken nuggets in which she first dunks them in a vegetable puree before coating them with a bread crumb/flax seed mixture. There are lots of free recipes on Oprah's site and instructions on making the purees, if anyone is interested.

I have collected a hodge-podge of recipes off the Internet and various autism-related books, and from other moms whose kids are on the diet. I'm trying to come up with other meals. I make homemade gf/cf graham crackers that turn out very well. Lib was addicted to those Honey Maid grahams, so that was the first thing I did - replace his addiction with something he could have. I've made so many, I could probably roll them out blindfolded. Other than that, Liberty eats pot roast, spaghetti, chili beans and uncured bacon and chips he can have. Of course, all is organic, antibiotic free, hormone free, "pristine" stuff.

After checking off my list of 13 supplements he is supposed to have, then getting him his bath and into his pajamas, going out for a quick jaunt to the library, getting him to bed and cleaning up the disaster area in the kitchen, I still managed to make a homemade pizza. How does she do it, you ask? Stresstabs. Maybe a little wine. Stupidity? Should have ordered it all, perhaps.

I am grateful for this rainy day at home with my boy, though. He said, "Tiguh" after I pointed to his very large stuffed white Indian tiger in his room. And, the sweet boy shared his chips with me this afternoon.

Yep, it was a good day at the ranch.