Social Stories

15 Pounds of Peaches, Days 1 and 2: Peach Cobbler and Chipotle Peach Barbeque Sauce

2013-05-17T18:48:00.001-04:00

This week we took a ride to Dade City, to pick peaches at a Florida peach farm. Apparently, there are peaches that grow in Florida, specifically in zones 9 and 10 where normal peaches, like those found in the grocery store, just will not grow.

The farm wasn't huge, but there was a couple of acres of peach trees in full harvest.

The peaches were small, but beautifully red and orange, just like a peach should be. At $10 per bucket -- about 7.5 pounds -- I planned to buy one bucket for my family, and one for my neighbor.

Alas, I forgot about Matthew, who picked nearly three buckets of peaches all by himself. The colors are so beautiful that it can be very tempting to pick and pick and pick...and he picked until two buckets overflowed so much that I had to put some of them in my bucket.

My mom managed to pick two buckets; and my sister-in-law Sheila, along with her two-year-old Emmy and two nine-month old twins Cory and Raleigh, picked just a bucket. Smart lady!

So now we're overrun with peaches. What to do? Try new recipes, that's what.

Yesterday, I made a yummy peach "cobbler," using a recipe that mom winged the night before:

sliced peaches (skin and all), a little agave and a little honey, sauteed just a few minutes to soften the peaches, then topped with a crumb mixture made by combining equal parts butter and sugar, and then cutting in enough flour to make it crumbly. (Sorry, I winged it too, so no recipe.) Bake in the oven 30 minutes at 350 degrees, and voila! Yumminess.

Today, I decided to make a Chipotle Peach Barbeque Sauce. I followed this recipe by Heathers Dish, though I eliminated the coffee powder and added a bit of honey (since my peaches weren't as ripe as hers). This is the end result:

Sweet, spicy and tart!

Tomorrow on 15 Pounds of Peaches: Day 3, Peach jam and freezing peaches for later.

Susan
www.susancalistri.com

Hiatus Over -- Here's What's New

2013-05-06T11:52:00.004-04:00

Sometimes it seems impossible to find the time to blog. My latest hiatus included nearly two months of 3-year old living with us (not a minute of which I regret) and two weeks of non-stop editing of a client's e-book for publication. Whew!

With homeschool co-op ending this week (boohoo), I am planning our summer schedule. Although past summers - including our one and only homeschool summer - have been relatively school-free, this summer I'm changing things up a bit, in part to limit the amount of video games and electronics Matthew uses. He already knows that he'll be working on science and math this summer, and he's agreed to take an online Beginner Photography course through Florida Virtual School starting June 3! It's his first online class, and his first organized class at all (other than co-op classes) since we left public school more than a year ago. I'm nervous, but he's looking forward to it.

We're eating a bit healthier these days too. While the GFCF diet has never showed much promise for solving Matthew's particular challenges, we are significantly reducing our processed wheat and sugar intake for healthy eating purposes, and adding more veggies and good proteins. I've found some really awesome recipes on Pinterest that I'm excited to try, that even Matthew may eat. I'll let you know how that goes.

This week, though, I wanted to share an incredibly delicious-looking, really-bad-for-you recipe that I found that I think you will love. (So much for healthy eating!)

Photo and recipe for Chocolate Chip Cheesecake are credited to Mr. Food Test Kitchens.

I plan to make this as a cookie-cake instead of a traditional cake for Matthew's 11th Birthday Ice Cream Shoppe Party (his choice, lol).

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake
Serves: 15
Cooking Time: 45 min

Ingredients:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 (16.5-ounce) rolls refrigerator chocolate chip cookie dough

What To Do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese, eggs, sugar, and vanilla extract until well mixed; set aside.

Slice cookie dough rolls into 1/4-inch slices. Arrange slices from one roll on bottom of a greased 9- x 13-inch glass baking dish; press together so there are no holes in dough. Spoon cream cheese mixture evenly over dough; top with remaining slices of cookie dough.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes, or until golden and center is slightly firm.

Remove from oven, let cool, then refrigerate. Cut into slices when well chilled.

Susan

www.susancalistri.com

Autism and Obsessions

2013-02-25T18:24:00.003-05:00

As I write this, Matthew is sleeping on the couch. Not only is napping unusual for him, but the reasons for the nap are unusual as well.

He has been staying up all night.

To play Pokemon.

Often kids with autism exhibit obsessive behavior. It's one of their differences, the ability, and sometimes the need, to focus on one thing to the exclusion of everything else. It can be a strength, when used properly. It can have you staying up all night long at ten years old, to sneak Pokemon videos and games that your parents have taken away, when it's out of control.

Today, I caught him (for the third time in a week) pretending to sleep during the day, but instead playing Pokemon on his DS (and when I took his DS away, sneaking to play on my DS). Each time he was caught this week, the game was taken away for a short period of time, 24 hours, as a consequence. Apparently, he wasn't willing to lose the game again, so this week he found an alternative: staying up all night. And I mean ALL NIGHT.

Jeff had an inkling that something was up when he woke at 3:30 am and found Matthew peeking out of his bedroom. Since Matthew sleeps in a loft bed, he clearly wasn't sleeping. He told Jeff that he needed to go to the bathroom. Jeff believed him, and went back to bed.

Today, Matthew admitted everything: Struggling to stay awake until we fell asleep so he could get up to play his game. Watching videos online in the middle of the night. Hiding his mouse clicks and game sounds in the sounds of our sleeping (ahem, snoring) as we slept. Pretending to nap during the day because he "couldn't sleep at night" (as he told us), so he could play some more. It is a calculated sneakiness that only a kid who is obsessed with something can manage.

He hasn't done any school work in a week. He's not sleeping. Sounds to me like an interest gone bad.

So, as of today we are in a "No Pokemon" zone. We'll return the game to him in very small, very controlled doses, once he's quit cold turkey.

Maybe.

Susan
www.susancalistri.com