Preparing for School and Ditching the Nuker

Holiday weekend. Not a lot going on here. The kids start school Tuesday, Milla in preschool and Reiss in kindergarten. Reiss will attend with one of his ABA therapists by his side full-time. I have been working on getting all their materials ready to go. If it weren't for us being gluten-free and casein-free, we would have nothing to prepare for, as the school they are attending generously provides all necessary school supplies.

The snacks are provided by a designated child in each class each week, however, because the snacks provided by others are rarely gluten-free or casein-free, all of Reiss's and Milla's snacks will come from home. Other than fresh fruit, I have requested to each of their teachers that neither child eat anything that is not provided from home. Since Reiss already has a few years of preschool under his belt, I am fully aware that many parents do not follow the healthy snacks only rule, which usually results in children bringing in Goldfish crackers, Fruit Loops, Fruit Roll-Ups, cheese sticks, and other snacks that either do not meet our dietary restrictions or fit within our guidelines, but are not things I would prefer that my children eat or at least, not on a regular basis.

Another area of concern is with the amount of time the children will play with Play-Doh while at school and since the actual Play-Doh brand crafting dough is not gluten-free, I am providing each of the kids with a few different colors of Crayola Model Magic. My hopes are that the instructions on each Ziploc bag I will provide will be a sufficient reminder for their teachers to store the Model Magic properly so that James and I do not have to take out a second mortgage in order to keep both kids stocked with crafting dough throughout the year.

In other news, we have been slowly - very slowly - replacing our plastic food storage containers with glass and stainless steel tin options. Each piece of aluminum and non-stick cookware is also making its way out our door, one-by-one, and slowly being replaced with stainless steel pieces.

Naturally, it would seem that getting rid of our microwave should be on the list of home goods that need another home. So sooner than I expected, I got the motivation for doing so after reading THIS piece on New Life on a Homestead. I laughed out loud when Kendra, the blog's author, mentioned she was hesitant to stand in front of the microwave when it was in use because I am the same way. I have been for awhile but even more since I have been pregnant. Who knows what that thing is emitting when it's powered up! My paranoia is apparently farther reaching than Kendra's though, because I do not turn the microwave sideways away from myself or my kids. I figure whatever harmful effects are being blasted out of that piece of kitchen gadgetry are likely flying out all sides and in all directions. Turning it sideways will not make a difference....or will it?

This morning marked Day #1 of our venture into Microwave-Free Living.

At breakfast, everything went off without a hitch. Sunday mornings we generally have bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit. The eggs get cooked on the stove, the toast in the toaster, and the fruit, of course, we just eat sliced and raw. I baked our bacon in the oven and was surprised at how evenly it cooked and how well it tasted - much better than I had expected and more flavorful than when I cook bacon in the microwave. For lack of a better theory, I have a feeling the improved flavor was due to it cooking in its own grease, whereas, I always cooked the bacon in the past on a special little microwave-safe rack, separating the bacon from its juices.

I had lunch all planned out for excluding the microwave and preparing it was to be easy enough. Boil the hot dogs on the stove. Bake the crinkle fries in the oven. Heat the canned beans in a pan on the stove. With my confidence level on high, I absentmindedly placed our frozen hot dog buns in the microwave oven and zapped them, only realizing what I had done just as the timer beeped at the finish.

Darnit......I didn't even make it for a full day without nuking something. My resolve was not banished though and I picked right back up on our new venture soon after lunch when I began our dinner preparations by mixing the ingredients for spaghetti sauce in the crockpot. I also baked a spaghetti squash in the oven along with a butternut squash to be used in muffins in a few days. We all like spaghetti squash but I also prepared gluten-free pasta on the stove and ultimately, that was a saving grace because the spaghetti squash was bad on the inside when I cut it open to scoop out and reheat. And just because I was on a roll, I also made some brownies. The recipe calls for slicing them into nine brownies but I was slicing them four by four in the pan, to make sixteen. Reiss ate five of them after dinner and with ingredients like the ones listed in that recipe, who am I to say no to giving him such a great source of protein?

Other than the hot dog bun infraction, we stuck to microwave-free living today. Here's to tomorrow - a fresh start. A new day to prove we do not need to "nuke" our food. To Labor Day.....hope you all have a great one!