Author: resumeofamother

Sour cream banana bread… Double batch!

| resumeofamother

I’m sure we have all had a bunch of bananas sitting on our counter and after a week come to realize that no one has eaten any of them… and they’re all getting extremely ripe. So here is a great recipe for you to try….my family just love it! Grab a bunch of ripe bananas about 6 to 8… this is just perfect for this double batch of sour cream banana bread.

Enjoy!

In one bowl beat together…

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 2 teaspoon of vanilla or almond extract
  • 10 heaping tablespoons of sour cream
  • 2/3 of a cup of vegetable oil

After this is thoroughly mixed add in your 6 to 8 ripe bananas and whisk or I like to use an electric hand mixer to thoroughly mixed it together.

And then in the second bowl mix together…

  • 2 teaspoons of baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 4 cups of flour

Optional items that you can add could could be a half a cup of dried cranberries, dried blueberries, walnuts, or even chocolate chips.

Combine your dry ingredients with your wet ingredients and gently mix together.

Grease to 2 bread loaf pans, place them in a preheated  oven on 350° for 45 to 50 minutes

Let stand for 10 minutes and pop out the banana bread from the bread loaf pans… Place on a plate cover until it cools off.

Make sure you lightly cover it even when it is still warm, so that the bread does not dry out.

Add a little butter… peanut butter… or your favorite fruit jam and enjoy this delicious homemade bread.

Lynn A. C. Wilson – Resume of a Mother

“Menu” Math for special Needs……what is out there for basic teaching material?r

| resumeofamother

We are a homeschooled family and love to learn new ways of teaching just about anything.  Having someone with special needs and teaching them has been interesting and also challenging at times!!!! One of the uniquenesses that our son has (or as we like to call them) is Autism and ADHD.  Now he also has a few other uniqueness….and roll them all together and you never quite know what you will have when you try to teach him.

Trying to teach the simplest things can be a big hurdle and we need to look around and always find new and different ways to approach things.

Our one goal has been as he gets closer to adult age is basic life skills.  How can he function the best he can in the “real” world as he get older? When he wants to be with his friends….how can he maintain as “normal” of a life as he can?  What can we do to assist him in learning how to feel like he can fit in?

We needed to make a list of areas in life where we needed to help him fit in the best he could.  One area we thought of would be when he goes to a restaurant.  I think we take things for granted and just maybe assume that reading and understanding a menu is the “norm”.  Well in fact I found out that it is not.  So in my search around I actually found math workbooks called “menu math” and we just love them!!!

Real life math…..with real life restaurant menus, it doesn’t get better than this.  We choose places that we frequent to make this as real and normal as we could.  Chick-Fil-A, MacDonald’s etc.…. here a few samples of what we choose below.  Stay tuned as to how we apply these in our homeschooling in my next blog.

Here are a few links to some places where I was able to purchase some great “menu math”… Let me know if you find any other great resources in the comments below.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Browse/Search:menu%20math

https://www.rempub.com/menu-math

https://www.amazon.com/Menu-Math-Grades-2-3-Martin/dp/0439227259

Lynn A. C. Wilson – Resume of a Mother

Dehydrated Chili… Can it be done?

| resumeofamother

I decided to take on the challenge of dehydrating chili… And so many of my friends were critics that it couldn’t be done. So I sat and I googled ideas, of course there’s also Pinterest and YouTube videos to check into. And I found that it is something that can be done.

The people that I saw on YouTube were going backpacking or camping and so this was an idea that they would have to bring with them for a simple and easy meal to rehydrate. It might be something you want to use to keep in storage just for an extra meal, or if you live in an area where there’s frequent power outages due to weather conditions it’s something that’s a simple meal to make. For me I have a son with Autism and I don’t allow him to use the stove… So to have something that I make homemade, and he can add hot water to and rehydrate and have a nutritional meal that I prepared ahead of time …I think is fantastic.

I took my favorite chili recipe… then I let it cool in the refrigerator overnight to thicken up. Next I put it on my dehydrating trays. It took about 18 to 20 hours to dehydrate and it came out fantastic.

Homemade chili
Add chili to your trays for your dehydrator
The completed dehydrated chili

To rehydrate it all you have to do is to add 1 cup of hot water to 1 cup of dried chili let it sit for 10 minutes and you have a delicious meal.

Rehydrated homemade chili

You can use a Mylar bag with an oxygen absorber to keep it fresh for a long time until you need to use it.

Check it out… It might be something you would enjoy having on a cold winter night, by the fireplace… for when the power goes out.

Lynn A. C. Wilson- Resume of a Mother

Sandwich Bread in a Bread Machine

| resumeofamother

Simple and easy is the way to go for a working mom or any busy person. We just love the smell of bread baking in our home and more importantly we love to eat a warm loaf of homemade bread!!! But how in the world do you find the time to bake it? #breadmachine

Years ago we purchased a bread machine and used it once or twice. I decided to dig it out a few months ago and try it again. We just love it. We are trying all new types of bread and are having so much fun.

Here is a simple and easy sandwich bread recipe for you to try! Whether a peanut butter and jelly or a yummy ham and cheese…..you will certainly enjoy this bread.

  1. So let’s get started!!!  What you will need is….
  2. For a Large loaf (1 ½ to 2 pound)
    • 1 cup of lukewarm milk
    • ½ cup lukewarm milk
    • 3 tablespoons of butter
    • 3 ¾ cups of Flour (I use unbleached)
    • 3 tablespoons of sugar ( I usually omit this and use Honey instead)
    • 1 ½ teaspoons of salt
    • 1 ½ teaspoons of active dry yeast or I use instant Yeast
  10. And for a Small Loaf (1 pound)
    • 2/3 cups of lukewarm milk
    • 1/4 cup lukewarm milk
    • 2 tablespoons of butter
    • 2 1/2 cups of Flour (I use unbleached)
    • 5 teaspoons of sugar ( I usually omit this and use Honey instead)
    • 1 1/4 teaspoons of salt
    • 1 teaspoons of active dry yeast or I use instant Yeast

Lynn A. C. Wilson – Resume of a Mother

No more shampoo…

| resumeofamother

I stopped using shampoo years ago. I found that my hair was so dry and almost brittle as well as I did not like the texture of my hair anymore. I tried cheap shampoo along with some high end products and I did not find anything that I really liked.

On a whim I turned on QVC one day to see them advertising something called Wen cleansing conditioning. And no this is not a paid advert for them but rather a mom on a budget who wants a good product.

I figured why not try it for a 30 day money back guarantee and WOW…I was thrilled. I have been purchasing this ever since.

My hair is clean, soft and healthy … and one bottle will last me about 10 months. I have also tried some other products that are the same but to me they don’t seem as good. But it could just be my hair type.

Have you used an alternative shampoo? What do you use and why? I would love some other ideas.

Lynn A. C. Wilson – Resume of a Mother

“Night to Shine”….. and that he did!!!!!

| resumeofamother

What an amazing night… What an amazing event! How many of you have someone with some type special needs and long for them to have a typical night like any other teenager could have such as a prom night? Tim Tebow foundation has created an event for people with special needs to have a prom like event for them to feel special for one night… and for them to “shine”!!!!

We were absolutely amazed at the organization, presentation, and variety of events put together in one evening. We arrived to find that girls were getting their hair, nails and make up done… while the boys were getting their shoes shined and their hair touched up. From there they went and met up with a buddy that they would have for the evening to keep them company. Then on to the horse and buggy carriage ride, and then to ride in a limousine! Once they departed from the limousine they were escorted to a red carpet where there were volunteers lined up on the carpet to root them on and cheer them on and take pictures. As our son said “I felt like a movie star”!!

Then they entered the gala… with white twinkling lights, beautiful tables decorated, a DJ, and I wonderful meal provided by Chick Fil A!

They could dance all night, they could be with their friends all night, they could feel as special as any other person ever felt on a prom night.

The final event… Would be to gather all the people with special needs and their buddies… They would be prayed over, and then everybody was crowned king and or queen of the prom with a beautiful crown or tiara.

No one was left behind and no one was left out during this beautiful moment. Everybody felt like they shined for this one special evening… our son came home feeling like he was worth something so special!!! This is one night he will never forget for the rest of his life!

Lynn A. C. Wilson– Resume of a Mother

Frozen green beans… Dehydrated

| resumeofamother

I always like a good challenge… And I’ve heard more and more people tell me you cannot dehydrate frozen vegetables. So what’s a girl to do… Go on YouTube, Pinterest and all the rest and look up recipes. So I took on the challenge and I did dehydrate a bag of frozen green beans that I purchased at Trader Joe’s.

The ultimate goal will be to learn how to dehydrate as many vegetables including frozen… So then I can make soup mixes in a jar for Christmas presents this year.

I took the bag directly from the freezer, placed them on the trays, turned the dehydrator on… My dehydrator only has one setting, and then let it run all night. The next morning I got up and they were fantastically dehydrated. All ready for soup mixes, stews, and anything else that I need.

I think this is a fantastic way to preserve food and not to waste it. I find myself many times buying fresh produce and frozen things forgetting I have them and I end up throwing them out.

On to bigger and better ways to preserving food for my family, and to also save money.

Let me know if you’ve ever dehydrated green beans frozen or fresh and how they came out.

Lynn A. C. Wilson-Resume of a Mother

Dehydrated Banana’s…YUMO!!!

| resumeofamother

How many times have you been left with bananas that you justdidn’t know what to do with, or you saw a good sale and wished you could buy abunch of them… no pun intended, and keep them for future use. I know somepeople like to freeze them for smoothies etc., but here’s another great idea.

Why not dehydrate them? I was blessed with a dehydrator forChristmas… So now I am in my kitchen trying things fast and furious to see howthey turn out.

This was one of my first attempts. I saw a lot of recipes whereyou could dip the banana slice in lemon juice, but I decided to go completelynatural and they are absolutely delicious.

  • Peel the skinsoff, and I also sliced off a little bit off of each end.
  • Then slice eachbanana into quarter inch slices.
  • Lay them on thetrays so that they are not touching each other, otherwise they will end upsticking together.
  • Depending on yourdehydrator’s instructions… Set your dehydrator to the correct setting forfruit. My dehydrator is just one setting. Or you can place them in the oven ona baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Turn your oven on to the lowestsetting and let it dehydrate that way.
  • My banana slicestook about 12 hours in the dehydrator and about eight hours in the oven todehydrate completely. From everything I understand they need to be dry, not wetto the touch, and leather like in feel.
  • They will stick alittle bit to your trays when they are done… but with a little tug they peelright off.
  • Store in anairtight container, a mason jar, or a storage bag.

A great way to have a healthy snack… Or add to your oatmeal inthe morning.

Comment below if you have ever hydrated bananas and what yourexperience has been. Have you done it with or without lemon juice… addedcinnamon or honey? I’d love to hear from you!

From Lynn’s kitchen…

Lynn A. C. Wilson – Resume of a Mother

Hands on Events for Autism….NO JUDGEMENT ZONE!!!

| resumeofamother

Well we are here and sitting at a museum with about 200+ Autistic kids and their families. WOW!!!!! This is an adventure to be with so many family and now friends that we have made.

img_5339img_5335img_5329

It amazes me while I sit and watch the differences in each individual who has autism or on the spectrum! My son for example has changed so much that next to most of these kids he almost seems average. There are families with kids having meltdowns of all ages. Kids wearing head phones to lighten the sounds and other kids walking in circles or having stemming issues. But all in all to watch all these levels get along and come along side of each other with NO JUDGEMENT!!!!!

img_5336img_5342img_5331

YES… I said no JUDGEMENT!!! Just the other day I had someone tell me point blank to “put him on a diet”. My son is far from needing a diet….his only thing is …is that he is tall. Then only a few days later I have someone tell him right to his face “did your head fall in a bucket of paint”. Yes he tinted the top of his hair red… and I ask you where is the crime in that?

What a JOY to be part of this awesome support group here in New Jersey!! We have been part of this group for about 5 years now. Some of the events have a charge and some are FREE like this one tonight.

Tonight our kids can run free through the hands on museum designed with sensory play stations of all kinds. From a restaurant to a climbing wall, a TV station to a doctors office, a pet shop to a nature center.

Our sons favorite is the basketball and dinosaur room.

img_5322-1img_5323img_5324

If you are not part of a support group you need to be!!!

Lynn A. C. Wilson – Resume of a Mother