Almost exactly one year ago, a wind storm (possibly a tornado) blew through

Estacada and knocked a tree over on our house. You can see it in the photo to the left. See window right under the tree? We were looking out of it when the tree fell!

We had insurance, and they were quite willing to pay, but then we discovered that there were serious issues with the foundation and other code violations that were not caused by the tree, and therefore would not be covered by insurance. Some of the foundation cracks were made worse by the tree, so we hired a lawyer to help us get as much as was fair from the insurance so that we could afford to fix or replace the home.

Eventually, it came down to replacing the home. It would cost more to fix than we could get from the insurance. That meant replacing the not-up-to-code septic system as well. So we’ve spent pretty much every penny the insurance has given us, and then some. But things are finally moving along.

Last Friday we went out to see our new home brought in. You can see it in the

Photo by Glenda Sandidge

picture here. It’s actually a little more yellow than it appears in the picture, because, as usual, it was cloudy and actually misting a little. It started raining harder in the afternoon. All the brown dirt was mud that stuck to our shoes and made them very heavy! This view is almost the same angle as the picture above (the tree in the foreground on the left is the same). Obviously, we are getting a much smaller home–about 1,000 square feet less. But that’s okay. I will miss the basement, but it can’t be helped. This home has four bedrooms, and we are going to install some kind of laminate flooring. I just emailed Pergo floors to find out which of their laminate floors put out the least emissions, so hopefully I will hear back from them on that soon.

Anyhow, they had a real time trying to get the home situated. It’s hard to see in the picture, but the property slopes down a hill. This angle is facing southeast, and the hill faces due south. The slab of concrete for the home is partly on a built-up surface that sticks out from the hill, and the yellow “crawler” that you can see in the picture wasn’t able to pull the halves into precise position. Hopefully they were able to figure something out today and get it properly situated so that it can be put together and tied down.

So once that’s done and it passes inspection, and once the sand filter for the septic is installed and the floors in, we will be able to move. Weather permitting, that should be in about 4 weeks. And I really hope it doesn’t take longer than that! Because insurance was very generous to give us an extra month in this home–since the original cut-off date was based on the time it would have taken to actually fix the house, but there were unavoidable delays, from the county taking time to inspect things to the record rainfall we’ve had this winter. Hopefully this extension will be enough to get all the last-minute things finished. I sure hope so!

I just hope we can get a garden in this year. We have not been able to do one every year since we moved to Oregon, because of moving or not knowing when we would move. Even if I have to grow lettuce in the flower bed or something, though, we really want to be able to grow some of our own food. Sprouts are nice, but more variety would be nicer. So yes, I’m really looking forward to moving!

But now I’m improving, the kids were in bed early, and I want to share with you about the after breakfast routine I have been establishing.

First of all, it is important to know that I am a S.H.E. all the way through. In case you aren’t familiar with that acronym, SHE stands for Sidetracked Home Executive, with an emphasis on the sidetracked part. And as a mother of young children, it is easy to get distracted! So I finish breakfast and just want to sit for a few minutes. Then I have to feed Manny (because his meal is different, and he often eats a little later than everyone else). Then I have to change a diaper. I also have to make sure Gislaine is getting her chores done (making her bed, collecting dirty laundry, etc). I have to referee any squabbles, answer the occasional phone call, and somewhere in there I need to brush my own teeth, make my bed, and get the kitchen cleaned up. It is so easy to get distracted!

In the past, I often would leave the dishes unwashed until almost time for lunch. Which, of course, would make me postpone lunch, because I didn’t want to do the dishes, and would wait until the last possible moment to start them. This made for more stress, of course. And I was always in a quandary about what to do first. Do I brush my teeth first? Do I make my bed first? Do I do the dishes first?

So finally I made a routine. I said, first thing after breakfast, I take my vitamins. Otherwise I will forget them, and they are supposed to be taken with food. My vitamins make such a difference in my energy and mood, but especially being pregnant now, I need my prenatals!

Then I put the food away and wash the dishes. Before I brush my teeth, make my bed, or do anything else. Granted, it doesn’t always work perfectly. My husband sometimes eats breakfast late, or Manny isn’t finished when I am, or there is some crisis that needs to be dealt with. But for the most part, if I do my best to stay focused, I can get the table cleared and the dishes done within 15-20 minutes. Of course, it helps that I emptied the dishwasher before starting breakfast, especially since the dishwasher is my dish drainer 6 days a week.

After breakfast, next thing I do is brush my teeth and make my bed. I list these two as one item, because the order varies, depending on whether the only bathroom in the house is occupied or not. Once we move and have a master bathroom, though, I think I will always brush my teeth first. I also remind Gislaine to brush hers and help Manny with his during this time, if he has finished breakfast. Sometimes my husband makes the bed before I get to it, and sometimes my daughter does it while I do dishes, but usually I have to do it. And remember, my excuse for not making the bed first thing upon rising is that I like to air it, and it is usually still occupied anyway.

The next thing on my list is laundry. That means sort laundry and start the first (and some days only) load. Now, Flylady starts the laundry as part of her before-breakfast routine, but I like my daughter to pick up the dirty laundry in the bedrooms and bring it out to the laundry room. That is her job. And before breakfast she doesn’t have time for that–if she’s even awake, she’s drinking her water or having her devotional time, and then she eats. So while I’m washing dishes, if she has finished eating, I have her pick up the laundry, make her bed, brush her teeth, etc. She is able to do those things on her own, and it keeps her out of trouble and out of my way so I can focus on getting through the routine.

After the laundry comes what I like to call my Fly Mission. This is actually a Flylady Zone mission. When I finish this series on routines, I will tell about how I have adapted the Zone idea for my new home–which, by the way, is on location but not put together yet. Anyhow, there are 5 zones, one for each week. This week is Zone 4, the Master Bedroom. An example of a mission would be to grab something like a long-handled duster or a broom and go after cobwebs, or to declutter under the bed for 15 minutes. Some zone missions I cannot do, because either the room isn’t cluttered, or we don’t have a dresser in the bedroom (the closet has shelves, so our clothes go on those), or some other good reason. But if the mission applies to my situation, I do it after starting the laundry.

Next on my list is decluttering. Now, I have almost no decluttering to do in this house. I have refused to collect unnecessary things, and most of what I did manage to collect has already been pitched. However, I can use this time to pack something for 15 minutes or less. We are moving in less than a month, after all. I have used this time to pack the kids’ clothes that they grew out of (the most recent ones were piled on a box), to organize my closet, to pack our warmest winter coats (probably a bad idea–it’s gotten cold again), to pack the few books we have here–one medium-small box full, and so on. Sometimes I skip this item, especially if we are running late, because lately we have been going to bed too late (we as in my husband and I), so we get a late start on the morning. I am working on reversing that at least for myself, but even the most organized mother can have delays sometimes.

Next on the list is school. That is, my daughter’s preschool. We don’t do it every day, but I am for 4 days a week. We go through workbooks I picked up at the dollar store, tracing letters and numbers and doing other preschool activities. And coloring. During this time, I keep Manny occupied with several things. First, he gets to color with a dry-erase marker on a special spiral-bound board thing that has letters, numbers, and a space to doodle. He tires of that in about 5-10 minutes, then he wants to play with the wooden tools that his uncle bought for him. I keep these tools out of reach so the pieces of bolts and nuts and such don’t get lost, and he only gets them during “school” time, which keeps them special. After 5-10 minutes he is done with those, and then I give him books to look at until his sister is finished with her school. This way, I know where he is (and that he isn’t making a mess or destroying something somewhere in the house).

After this is free time that I can use to do whatever I want or need to do until time to start my pre-lunch routine. How much time I actually have depends on how long this routine took to get finished. Sometimes I only have a few minutes. Often I will tackle things on my to-do list that I don’t do every day, like ironing, or one-time things like making a call to set appointments. I often check the laundry during this time, especially if I have to do more than one load that day.

Eventually I want to put a quick sweep of the kitchen and dining room into my morning routine, but I need to streamline this one more first.

To recap, here is my after-breakfast routine:

• Take vitamins
• Clear table, wash dishes
• Brush teeth, make bed
• Sort and start laundry
• Zone mission
• Declutter/pack
• School

This routine still has a lot of bumps in it, but I’m fairly happy with the order of it. Now I just need to become more efficient at it!

Next time I will share about my pre-lunch routine.

What routines have you established to make your life flow more smoothly?

Choosing to have your baby in bed with you is an often controversial topic, and polarizes opinion enormously due to the dangers that are often spurted out in the news. But the benefits of co-sleeping also speak for themselves. So what really are the pros and cons of co-sleeping with your baby, and how is it done safely?

The Pros

• A calmer baby – bedsharing is renowned for making your baby feel more at ease and content, having their mother right by their side. They are likely to sleep better and for longer periods, as they feel safer and more secure.
• Bonding – if you have been away from your baby all day, you can instantly regain that connection and closeness by having your baby in bed with you. Make sure your baby is between you and the wall, and is placed to sleep on their back for the safest way of co-sleeping.
• No cot shopping yet – for the first few months, there might not be any need for a cot or Moses basket, saving on space and money. You may want to invest in a new double mattress that is much firmer.
• Breastfeeding made easy – having your baby right by your side means there’s no need to get up for a feed, and there’s less disruption during sleep for you and baby.
• Body clock – your sleep cycle is more likely to stay in sync with your baby’s if you sleep together, meaning you both get better and longer sleep.

The Cons

• Cot death – the biggest and most important negative of co-sleeping. Unfortunately, this is a possible danger due to strangulation and suffocation that could happen in your bed. To reduce the risk of cot death, it’s extremely important to ensure that you and your partner have not been drinking, smoking or are unusually tired.
• Less sleep for you – at first, it may be an unfamiliar and strange concept of having your wriggling baby in bed with you, so it may mean less sleep for you.
• Getting too used to it – co-sleeping may make the transition from bed to cot much harder and drawn-out for your baby, as they are too familiar with the safety of sleeping next to their parents. It might also make it harder on yourself when your baby is left with a sitter or relative.

How to co-sleep safely

• Invest in a firm mattress, and tight sheets that lay flat on the bed. Make sure your duvet or comforter is lightweight. Remove any unnecessary cushions, throws, blankets and stuffed animals and keep all bedding to a minimum.
• Place the baby to sleep on their back, for the safest sleeping position.
• Keep your baby on top of the duvet to avoid overheating, and always check your baby’s temperature is warm and not hot.
• Place your baby to sleep in between you and the wall, and place rugs and soft furnishings down if you have a hard-wood floor for extra safety.
• Keep the bed right up against the wall, and ensure there are no gaps around the bed. Wedge pillows or tightly-rolled blankets into any visible gaps.

Zoe is an avid blogger and experienced freelance writer, and loves to share her knowledge through content on the internet. Zoe is currently writing on behalf of bed superstore Archers Sleep Centre.

Flylady teaches that when you get out of bed in the morning, you should get dressed to the lace-up shoes and make the bed. Because I like to air the bed first–and especially since my husband is often still in it when I rise–I have moved that to a later routine. But I have found it helpful to get dressed and wash my face first thing, right after going to the bathroom (unless I plan on showering, in which case I just put on my shoes, because I don’t have time to shower before breakfast right now). So that is the first step of my routine: Get dressed and wash face. I never used to bother with washing my face, but I’m 31 now, and I think it’s about time I started taking care of it–especially since I recently noticed a couple of lines that I don’t remember being there before. At this point, I have Melaleuca’s Sei Bella facial wash and toner, so I use those. Later I plan on getting more products, like a moisturizer and a facial masque to use once in a while. But for now, I feel like I’m doing something good for my face, so I’m happy.

Then, before I leave the bathroom, I clean it. Yes, every day (except Sabbath). This consists of dampening a rag and wiping down all the surfaces. First, spots on the mirror, then the counter and sink, then the toilet. Then I hang it up to dry. It takes 1-2 minutes, and the bathroom is company-ready. I also take the time to put away brushes and toothpaste tubes or anything else that doesn’t belong on the counter. All that is supposed to be there are two soap dispensers and a container of Gislaine’s hair “thingies” that doesn’t fit in the medicine cabinet and I want to keep out of Manny’s reach (so not in the drawes). I don’t move the latter when I wipe, only the soap dispensers if I see bits of soap near them that need to be wiped up. Then I take the toilet bowl brush and give the bowl a quick 5-second swish.

Now, because I don’t use any soap for this process, once a week, just before hopping in the shower, I clear everything off of the counter and put it in the window, then spray the counter, sink, and all of the toilet with an herbal disinfectant spray. After drying and dressing, the spray has done its job of killing all the bacteria on those surfaces, and I just need to wipe it down (since it has soap in it, I can’t leave it like lysol). I also spray it inside the toilet bowl. Once we move back to well water, I’ll add some of the Tub & Tile cleaner to the toilet bowl to keep down the limescale, but for now, our water is very soft and it never gets any build-up.

The next thing on my list is to empty the dishwasher. Whether it is full from a load I ran the night before, or whether it just has a few bowls or plates from supper, I empty it. That way I don’t have to empty it before washing the dishes. This takes less than 5 minutes max.

The last thing I do is check my to-do list. I have a list on the fridge that lists things that I need to do on specific days of the week, but not necessarily every day, from deep-cleaning the kitchen counters (meaning I move everything and spray down the counters one at a time, instead of just wiping the bare areas) to soaking beans for the next day’s meal. I also add any daily tasks I want to make sure I don’t forget, such as laundry (it’s amazing how easy it is to forget, with the washer and dryer being out in the garage), or anything else I need to remember, like a doctor’s visit or a call I need to make. These I write down on a little dry-erase board on my fridge. When I accomplish a task, I wipe it off. Then I can see what is left. I put dots beside things that I absolutely want to get done today (sometimes a phone call can be postponed, or organizing the garage can wait a few days when the kids are sick), and as I go through the day, I might put lines beside the things I want to focus on next–2 or 3 things to get done before I attempt anything else. Because, well, I have to admit I am a S.H.E–sidetracked home executive–and tend to get started with something, then remember I should be doing something else, then get called by the kids to help with something or change a diaper… so being able to refocus with a glance at my white board is very helpful!

Now, it took quite a bit to describe my morning routine, but it takes much less time to actually do it. Getting dressed and washing face takes 10 minutes if I’m slow. “Swish & swipe” (cleaning the bathroom surfaces and toilet) takes about 2 or 3 minutes. Emptying the dishwasher takes 5 minutes or less, and updating my to-do list takes about 2 or 3 minutes.

And although it’s not officially on my list, I also drink a glass of water while I’m in the kitchen. Then I either have my devotions or start on breakfast, depending on what time it is and when my husband needs to leave.

So that’s my before breakfast routine. It looks like a lot, so I will summarize:

• Get dressed to the shoes & wash face
• Swish & Swipe
• Empty dishwasher
• Update to-do list

So what do you do before you start breakfast?

I inherited my dad’s and and his mother’s lack of organization–along with an “I don’t really care” attitude. At least, sometimes I don’t care. Other times I do, but then I’m overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, so I just don’t start.

That’s where Flylady comes in. She has a few rules to follow that make life much simpler and organization kind of fall into place. The first rule is to shine the kitchen sink and keep it that way. As simplistic as that sounds, it really helps keep the kitchen cleaner. Because who wants to just have a shiny sink with dishes piled around and filthy counters? So each time the sink is used, it should be wiped down–which takes all of one minute–and left clean for the next use.

Then there is the 15-minute rule. That is, “You can do anything for 15 minutes.” Whether it’s washing dishes, mopping the floor, cleaning the bathroom, or tackling an overwhelming filing project, if it seems like too much, just set a timer for 15 minutes, work like mad, and quit when the timer goes off.

The other thing she teaches is to establish routines. That is what I want to talk about over the next few posts. Even though I had routines established as a child, such as brushing my teeth after breakfast and making my bed before school started, I think Mom was the motivating factor behind them, and not any inward motivation, so I got out of them when I left home. I’ll admit that there are times when I would not make the bed all day, leave the breakfast dishes dirty until almost lunch time, and only brush my teeth when the feel of a dirty mouth became too disgusting (which was probably half way through the morning). Before I had kids, it wasn’t so bad, because I could just get things done whenever; but now with two kids and another on the way, I realized that I needed to help them establish routines too, especially since my daughter has a way of getting very distracted and forgetting what she is supposed to be doing.

So I am working on establishing basic routines for the daily tasks that need to be done. I find it easier than a schedule at this point. Because a schedule says that I need to have the dishes done by, say, 8:30. But if my husband and I were up late working on something and didn’t get up until 7:30, there is no way the breakfast dishes can be done by 8:30. That messes up my schedule, and then I feel overwhelmed. Instead, I have routines. When I finish breakfast, I start my after-breakfast routine, even if that happens to be at 10:00 in the morning.

The next post will detail my early morning routine, the one I do before devotions and breakfast. Then over the next few days I will go through the various routines I have established or am working on, just to share how I have modified Flylady’s methods to fit my home and lifestyle.

Do you have any routines that you have established? Please share them in the comments!

A lot of parents go through a lot of distress in getting their kids to follow a systematic sleep pattern. There are parents who have kids that are hyperactive and do not want to sleep, whereas others have kids who sleep at the oddest of hours. All in all, it is tough for a parent to cope with sleepless nights, and frustrating as well. However, it has been medically proved that if you inculcate the following sleep habits in your kids, then you might end up establishing a systematic sleeping pattern in your kids effortlessly:

1. Maintain a consistent sleep/wake-up time for your kids

It is important to keep a consistently maintained sleep schedule throughout the week, irrespective of weekends and holidays. This will enable their body to work in a particular manner. This way, their body will automatically tell them when it is time to sleep and when it is time to wake up without any fuss whatsoever.

2. Introduce some form of exercise or a sport daily

Try to incorporate some kind of physical activity in your kid’s daily planner. Not only will it make them healthy and alert but will also go a long way in their well-being.

3. Always make sure they have dinner before bedtime

It is important that the kid’s do not sleep on an empty stomach. Try to keep the dinner ready and prepared well in time. In times when dinner is not done, then give them some cereals, milk or a fruit before putting them to bed. Also, make sure that dinner is eaten at least two hours before bedtime.

4. Do not give foods containing caffeine to kids

Avoid foods that contain caffeine in the evenings as it can interfere with their sleep. So chocolates, iced teas, colas and coffee should be a definite no-no for the evenings!

5. Tuck the kids in bed an hour before bedtime

Try to plan your evenings so that you can tuck your kids in bed an hour before lights are off. This will give them an hour of doing fun activities, reading a book, playing or listening to songs before settling off to sleep.

6. Make sure the room is adequately lit

It is important for the kids to feel safe in the room, so do make it comfortable to them in terms of buying a good night light for their room.

7. Do not put in distracting gadgets in their rooms

Try to avoid putting in a TV set in the kid’s bedroom. Kids get distracted easily and their excitement for watching television might make it difficult for them to sleep.

8. Avoid associating the bedroom with punishment

If you have to discipline a child, try to avoid using the bedroom for time outs as the kids will associate it with negative things. Try to increase the positive aspects about their bedroom.

9. Have a final interaction with your kids before sending them off to bed

It is important to give the kids a feeling of warmth and love – so do give them the kiss and hug before tucking them in bed.

10. Try to letting older kids from napping in the afternoons

As kids grow older, they refuse to sleep on time if they have napped in the afternoon. So, if you have a kid who is five or older – then try to avoid letting them nap in the afternoon so that they can sleep on time.

Ellen is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on latest technologies. These days she is busy in writing an article on Headphones iPod dock. Beside this she loves reading. She recently bought a Wireless Media Player from a fare. 

1. Speed Up Your Metabolism

Lifting weights is such a huge part of staying fit because it helps regulate your metabolism, and there is no better time to keep your metabolism even than during a pregnancy. Your metabolism is the clock in your body that decides whether to burn energy or store it as fat. If you maintain an active metabolism during pregnancy, it will be easier to lose the weight after your baby is born. The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism will be, and the higher your metabolism, the easier it is to keep weight off.

2. Burn Fat for Free

Building muscle is, believe it or not, the best way to burn fat. Now, it’s very important to have enough fat on your body while pregnant, because both you and your baby need it to stay healthy. But, you can still burn fat in a natural way by building muscle. Just having muscle on your body actually burns calories, even when you’re not working out! You will naturally burn an extra 350-500 calories for every ten pounds of lean muscle. So, not only will lifting weights help you stay fit during the pregnancy, it will help you burn fat after.

3. Improve Stamina

Having muscle on your body will make you stronger, and being stronger just makes everything easier. Lift weights during pregnancy, and it will be easier to do things like walk up stairs, get up off the couch, bend down to grab the laundry, and everything else that suddenly becomes difficult as your tummy grows.

4. Stop Dreading the Elliptical

The best part about weight training? It’s so much better than cardio! Most doctors recommend some form of light exercise during pregnancy, but there are just those days when we don’t feel like walking on a treadmill or suffering through an even light setting on the elliptical. When you lift weights, though, you can sit down on resistance machines and lift a very light weight. Just take 30 minutes to lift weights three times a week and ditch that treadmill avoidance altogether.

This is a guest post by Nadia Jones who blogs at online college about education, college, student, teacher, money saving, movie related topics. You can reach her at nadia.jones5 [at] gmail.com.

She was especially focused on the bathroom, though some of my questions were more general to other areas of the home as well.  In addition to this video, there are online schools that will teach you interior decorating practices. The video is short–only about 5 minutes. Enjoy!

Because they haven’t even laid the foundation yet! There have been delays of some kind. But we can’t afford delays! My son’s diet is very restricted and becoming more complicated as he gets tired of eating the same ol’ food over and over.

We have an open invitation to stay in a friend’s little camper about two miles from our property, but that’s not going to be easy. The fridge is minimal, and although our upright freezer is already in his shed, our refrigerator is in the back of the storage unit where all of our stuff is stored–completely inaccessible. So I’m not sure how we are going to be able to cook 2 meals and store food, even if I throw away all leftovers (not that there would be that many–I usually cook only what we will eat).

So here’s hoping they can get the foundation poured within the next week and the house installed. And the septic done. And hooked up. And final inspections made.

It’s really too bad we don’t have a second car. Because if we had, I could have gone over there a couple of times a week to keep tabs on things. My husband simply doesn’t have the time, between a full time job and college classes, though he still goes there at least once a week (usually on Sunday).

We may be able to get an extension on our stay here. If we do, that would be so much easier. In the mean time, I’m decluttering (not that I have a lot of clutter, but I do have a little) and tossing anything I don’t want to take. Or putting it in a pile to take to the Goodwill. And packing anything we don’t need between now and then.

I’m also cleaning bits and pieces of the home. Like last week I washed all the windows inside. Two weeks ago, I cleaned the ceiling fans. I’ve cleaned baseboards in some of the rooms, and I will be working on those room by room until they are all clean. I also need to clean the rental furniture before they pick it up. Some is just a matter of dusting, such as the coffee tables. But the kitchen chairs have padded fabric seats, and the ones around the table have gotten spilled on a lot. I know I can get them clean, though. A few months ago, we dispensed with Gislaine’s booster seat, which had been on one of the chairs. Where the booster seat had been was very clean, while where it had not been was very dirty–quite a contrast. But with several of my Melaleuca cleaners and a bit of elbow grease, I got it so you couldn’t tell what had been covered and what hadn’t. Which means it got really clean. But that’s not something I want to do until just a day or two before they are to be picked up, obviously! However, I could vacuum under the couch cushions anytime between now and the move. Maybe I’ll do that tomorrow. It’s not like the vacuum we were brought has been used all that much–being an upright, and not having carpet, about all it’s gotten to do is clean out the car a couple of times!

But you can be sure I’ll be glad to get back to 100% wood chairs! And not just because they are easier to clean. Lately my hips haven’t been in the best shape, and sitting on cushions seems to make them worse. Sitting on a hard surface is better. Don’t ask me why. But that happened last pregnancy too. I actually put a book on the seat of the computer chair (which is rather padded) so that my hip doesn’t pop out every time I sit here!

So we wait. I can’t wait to move and get settled. I’m so tired of the stress. It’s been especially hard on my husband, especially since my morning sickness the two previous months rather incapacitated me.

But for now, the kitchen is clean. I put away several things that didn’t belong there today and cleaned the counters with an herbal disinfectant. I made sure all the kids’ things were picked up in the living and family rooms. And I made the bed after changing the sheets.

Which reminds me, I need to fold those sheets we took off the bed. I kind of forgot about them earlier, but they are dry now. I’ll bet I can have them folded in about 7 minutes and put away and then I wouldn’t have to face them tomorrow.

It is a very starchy, fibrous root with a kind of bark-like skin and white flesh. It cooks similar to a potato, but it is a bit drier and has a rather bland flavor. You may have heard of its other name, cassava, as it is called in many English speaking countries, such as Jamaca. It is also the root from which tapioca is made.

The other night, my husband found this site that talks about many of the properties of yuca, and we were surprised to find that it is a good source of calcium, as well as anti-inflammatory.

My son is allergic to potatoes, which makes buying gluten-free mixes and products virtually impossible. However, tapioca flour and starch can substitute very well for potato flour and starch in GF recipes, and he is not allergic to it at all.

In Texas, we used to buy it for about $1 a pound. Not terribly cheap, but still affordable. We had to remove the skin and the ends, and I learned the hard way to chop it open in the store to check for pure white flesh (instead of flesh with gray lines in it). Sometimes I would find a lot that was good, and then I would skin it all and freeze whatever we didn’t plan on using in the next few days. It could be taken from the freezer and put directly into hot water to cook, and it tasted almost the same as fresh.

Then we moved to Oregon, and the yuca here is almost $3 a pound. So we never buy it. Not to mention that I doubt it will be good quality up here. But my husband found frozen shredded yuca at a Philippino market for about $1.25 per 1 lb bag. He used about two pounds to make a yuca casserole for Christmas dinner (yuca on top and bottom with seasoned veggie burger filling), but it’s a bit expensive to use for the family on a regular basis, and takes a bit of work. However, we discovered that if we took some of the yuca (which is so finely shredded that it is more like a thick batter than anything else), added some salt, and pan fried it in small patties, Manny would devour them. He’s been known to eat more than half a pound of it at one sitting!

Lately poor Manny, who is definitely allergic to eggs, milk, and all nuts and seeds except flax and hemp, has become more and more sensitive to beans. I can’t just feed him grains–most of them aren’t a complete protein, and even if they were, the quality of protein isn’t enough for a growing child. He won’t eat greens (and with the limited amount of food he can eat, it’s next to impossible to hide greens in anything), so using greens to supplement his protein isn’t really a viable option. So we decided to try a little turkey. Daddy bought some at the health food store today. He chopped it fine, mixed it with the yuca, made the patties, and cooked them with a little palm oil (which oxidizes slower than olive oil, is flavorless, and healthier than canola oil). We started with about 2 ounces of turkey and half a pound of yuca. I’m not sure how many patties he ate, but there were only 2 two-inch patties left when he was full.

Turkey isn’t something we’ll give him every day. What we bought today cost over $2, and I’m not positive it was organic  or free range (it didn’t say it was; he bought it pre-cooked and sliced in the deli, not raw). I can buy similar turkey from Azure Standard, only it IS organic and free-range, and costs over $6 for each 6-oz package (just under $6 each if I buy a 10-pack). I figure buying it pre-cooked is better, so I don’t have to deal with raw meat in my kitchen (a friend made that suggestion, and I totally agree with her!).

As a third-generation vegetarian, feeding meat to one of my kids is something I really hesitate to do. But we don’t seem to have a lot of options right now. I really hope that he will outgrow many of his allergies eventually, and in the mean time he really needs to avoid anything that makes him more itchy. If giving him a little turkey now and again will make that easier, then so be it.

Now if we could just move to a tropical country where yuca and other non-potato roots are staples in the diet… Hey, there’s no law that says I can’t wish, is there?