Suprise for Me!

This is the awesome book my sister got me!  I am not particularly fond of getting the mail: which is why it often sits in the mail box for a couple extra days.  I have learned that mail means one of two things, bills and junk mail.  Luckily the South Dakota mail man has never complained about my delay in getting my mail, unlike our moody Californian mail man.  Today the mail was very exciting - I got a surprise package delivered with my name on it ( not the kids).   I was freaking thrilled!  But not nearly as thrilled as when I saw what the package was.  My sister knows that I love to make cupcakes.  Because she reads my blog AND because I made her make them with me when she visited.  We tried one of my recipes with a vegan spin. So... THANK YOU!  This little book made me smile.  Plus, we no longer have to use only Martha Stewart.  Woohoo!

http://www.amazon.com/Artisanal-Gluten-Free-Cupcakes--Scratch-Otherwise/dp/1615190368/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1325205975&sr=8-1

Gluten Free Peanut Butter and Jelly Crepes

Ingredients:
1 Cup 2 % Milk
1/2 Cup GF Flour (A little less of a 1/2 cup - take out about an 1/8)
1 Tablespoon Butter (melted)
4 large eggs
1 Teaspoon Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
Peanut Butter and Jelly (GF)

Directions:
1.  Preheat pan to medium heat.
2.  Place all ingredients in blender and blend till well mixed.
3.  Melt 1 teaspoon butter in frying pan (per crepe).
4.  Take 1/4 cup of batter and place on pan - swirl it once or twice quickly to evenly spread it.
5.  Wait about one to two minutes and flip - very carefully.
6.  Cook another one to two minutes and place on plate.
7.  Add a tablespoon of peanut butter in the middle - add a tablespoon of jelly in the middle.
8.  Fold once from right in.  Fold in from top and bottom (like a burrito).  Fold once from left.  Let cool.  Sprinkle with powdered sugar!

I made P&J for the kids.  For my man I made peanut butter with syrup.  I put only jelly in mine.  Yummy.

Inspired from the food network this morning and converted to gluten free.  It is important to add a little less than a 1/2 a cup of GF flour. 

Jelly Filled Cupcakes

Orange Zest, Glazed, Jelly Filled GF Cupcakes for Hanukkah

Being a gluten free family sufganiyot, jelly filled doughnuts, is not a dessert we can partake in for Hanukkah - at least not until I get brave enough to attempt to make gluten free doughnuts. 

The holiday season is a combination of exciting and exhausting.  Maxed out on fun the girls and I zoned out watching one of our favorite shows on the food network, the Cupcake Wars.  The girls are always joking we should have our own cupcake wars.  Beezus insists that daddy "can make our display and we can invite the book club ladies over to judge".   Cupcakes have become a bit of a family weekend tradition in our house.

Once I tucked the bugs into bed it dawned on me, that we could make jelly filled cupcakes!  This of course seems a natural and obvious extension - however, it had to dawn on me.  ;-) 

I spent a good deal of time online looking for a jelly filled cupcakes recipe I could convert; however, most recipes demand solely yellow cake as a base for the jelly filled cupcakes.  I felt that this might be a bit boring.  So, I consulted with Martha Stewart's cupcake book and found a jelly filled cupcake recipe that utilized orange zest.  This sounded more fun.

Below are our Orange Zest, Blue Glazed, Jelly Filled GF Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, rm temp

3 cups Jules GF Flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons finely grated orange zest

4 large eggs, separated, rm temp

1/2 cup milk

Strawberry Jelly - GF

Directions: 

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk together in bowl GF flour, baking powder, and salt.

2.  Mix in kitchen aid on medium high speed, cream butter, sugar, and zest - until pale and fluffy.  Add yolks one at a time.  Reduce low speed add dry ingredients alternating with milk till all ingredients are added and mixed together.

3.  In another bowl with mixer whisk egg whites together until they are sufficiently peaked.    Gently gold into batter. 

4.  Place butter into lined cupcake sheets so that the batter is 1/4 filled.  Create indent and spoon 1/2 - 3/4 teaspoons jelly.  Cover jelly with a batter so the liners are 3/4 filled.

5.  Place in oven for 40 minutes.

Icing:

I have decided that I am not fond of Martha Stewart's Icings.  Stewart as a tendency to use so much butter that an instantaneous heart attack is not entirely improbable. So I took her idea and just did it my way...

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons milk

1 mini orange squeezed for juice

Mix- adding sugar or milk for right consistency.  I wanted to glaze - so I made it rather liquidity - however, in a rush I let it get too liquidity.

Notes:  I find that Jules Gluten Free All Purpose Flour is not a great 1:1 ratio.  I have consulted with other gluten free cooks and found that a 3/4:1 ratio is better. 

The whole family enjoyed these cupcakes - despite the girls saying any cupcakes filled with jelly they would never try.  I find they get brave once the cupcakes are actually in front of them.  The family decided to eat them cupcake wars style with forks and commentary.  I put up with the commentary till my man joined in and then I said, "well, you can make them yourself next time!"

Another Link to Hanukkah Cupcakes:
kveller (A Jeiwsh Twist On Parenting)

Reindeer Cupcakes!

I made some standard chocolate cupcakes for Beezus's Holiday Class Party today.  I used a premix Pamela's Chocolate Cake and Betty Crocker Gluten Free Frosting.  Entirely gluten free.  I used standard milk chocolate M&Ms for the eyes and nose.  I used gluten free pretzels for the antlers and marshmallows for the white in the eyes.

I got the idea from the Martha Stewart Website.  It looks waaaay better there, but it was fun and I think the kids will think they are neat.  Then again, there is one little girl I know who will give it to me straight.  If I can get these past her, then I am golden.

Hope everyone is having a great holiday week!

Lots of love,
Blindconformity

Mac N Cheese Gluten-Free Style

The best part about having cravings is it forces me to try recipes I have avoided since our diet change.  However, I needed a good gluten-free mac n cheese the other night, and a couple nights since then too.  I feel bad I waited so long to try this out.  It is way easier than I expected it to be.

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoon Butter
2 Tablespoon Corn Starch
1 Tablespoon King Arthur Gluten Free Flour
1 lb Cheddar Cheese (mild)
2 Cups Milk
1 Bag Brown Rice Noodles (Tinkyada)

Directions:
Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

Noodles:
1.  Boil Water.
2.  Place in gluten free brown rice noodles (Tinkyada) for ten minutes.
3.  Strain.
4.  Rinse.
5.  Place to side in strainer.

Cheese Sauce:
1.  Grate the 1 pound of cheese.
2.  Put 2-3 Tablespoons Butter in pot over medium heat.
3.  Once the butter is melted add 2 Tbl corn starch and 1 Tablespoon King Arthur Gluten Free Flour (decide if it needs more) - should be thicker.
4.  Add first cup milk.  This is tricky - stir fast make sure to get out lumps.  Turn up heat -slightly.
5.  Add second cup milk slowly.  Do not stop stirring.  Stir for about ten minutes.  When it starts to thicken up add in cheese one hand full at a time.
6.  Leave about a cup of cheese over. Once all cheese (except the one cup off to the side) is in add in the noodles.  Stir a bit to get the noodles completely covered white sauce. 
7.  Pour the noodles in the white sauce into a casserole dish, sprinkle last cup of cheese over top of casserole and place in oven for 50 minutes.

Notes:

Make sure not to over cook noodles ahead of time - noodles can be slightly under cooked and that will also work.  This came out really well.  My older daughter and I really felt it tasted exactly like the kind of mac n cheese we used to have.

 

Play with it:

The second time I made it recently I added a 1/4 lb of Classic Vermont Cheddar Cheese for fun.  My man liked it a lot more that way. 

As per usual - check your ingredients to make sure they are all gluten free.  Make sure not to cook on contaminated surfaces (in other words clean your surfaces before you cook).  Do not use utensils that were previously used on gluten products.  This recipe does make things gluten-free through purely reading.  Cooking gluten-free is labor intensive, especially in a kitchen that tries to combine both gluten and nongluten foods.

The word box and acceptance

Today I write from the place of no work and no school. The semester has let out and after a week of writing paper after paper I done with school! In the meantime I thought maybe I would dive into work; however, the photography field is seasonal. I have no work for a couple months.  No work and no school makes blindconformity a dull girl - and gives her ample time to harass the world with blog posts.

So, I thought I would impart one of my favorite parenting techniques, along with a bit of parenting wisdom.

The Word Box

Once the lovelies, by lovelies I mean kids . I know this might be confusing when they scream, yell, draw on the walls/tub and stuff the cats in boxes, but they are still lovable. So, when these lovelies start school a parent might find themselves (at least in kindergarten, first grade & second grade) overwhelmed with words the kids come home needing to spell and read. If any of the these children struggle with spelling (as both of mine have– yeah, I know, they take after me - laugh it up) then you might find yourself desperately wanting them to be prepared, and you might feel intimidated by keeping track of all the words they need to master. Thankfully there are ways we can help that are easy and do not require much money. I call this the word box.

Making the word box:

I took a shoe box (let my daughter decorate it), bought index cards and I write out each word on an index card. Date the index card words, so you know how far back in the school year the word was supposed to be known. The magical ingredients to the word box are M&Ms (the milk chocolate ones are gluten free) AND special spelling markers (just markers called special and only brought for word work). All parts go into word box when it is not in use.

The word drill:

1. Have kiddo spells the work, reads the word, then spells it again – give an M&M for reading it w/o help.

a. This helps her hear the word & hear the spelling, not just see the word & spelling.

2. Once done with reading all the decided upon words (I try to keep each go around less than 20 or even 10 words) – I randomize the deck – and I read them off to her and she will write them down with her special markers that no one else can touch. Each one she gets right, she gets an M&M. AND if she spells it right on paper she gets to read and spell it out loud gain. (We used touch -through writing, hearing through reading spelling out loud, and, obviously, seeing).

This is very dry (and not great for nonverbal kids); however, when dealing with learning difficulties sometimes fancy is not the way to go.

Word strategies...

from a teacher with a master's in teaching reading and who I highly respect.

1. Hide the index cards around the house, so that your child has to find them and then read them.

2. Pick books that are easy so the child gains confidence.

3. Have your child look through books, magazines, newspapers and find words they do know.

4. Make simple sentences. Have the child read the sentence. Cut the sentence up so each word is separate and then have the child glue the words back into the correct order.

My daughter has frozen up on strategy 3 due to lack of confidence, so sometimes I sit next to her with an easy reader book open and find the easiest words on the page and make nonchalant commentary, like “oh, look here is the word ‘cat’” or “look I found the word ‘what’ – we just went over that!” I act as if I am finding them for my own entertainment, not for her benefit. She usually joins in, but sometimes she knows what I am up to and gets pissed. Just depends on her mood.

Lastly, reading to animals is great for the kid and even the animal. On truly tough days we grab one of our fur balls -cats can conveniently sit in laps and dogs are okay with feet resting on them. I found that these pets are the children's furry saints a lot. Productivity goes up and so do spirits!

My Parenting Tips and Wisdom:

I am no genius, but due to parenting for 8 years and getting a psych degree, plus working in education a bit, I like to think I know, at least, a couple things I can share.

1. I focus on accomplishment always! Positive reinforcement, positive reinforcement, positive reinforcement! I have her high five me, give her a hug, give her m&ms when we get through tough words or simply state "that was a tough one, great job". When we mess up we move on without much commentary, maybe a small correction. Sometimes I supply the truly hard words to keep the flow going.

2. I try to tolerate anxious behaviors like moving around during reading, kicking her feet out and slowly slipping off the couch. But sometimes I just say matter of fact, "sit up", and then follow up with a distraction/redirection from the command, like "oh look, we are on page 20 - that is awesome work." This is to keep her from noticing that I am giving her a command and continue to be positive.

Anxious behaviors are frustrating; however, they are a result of the child being frustrated! Kids hate feeling behind peers and bad at a task. I am very grateful I worked with kids, years ago, that had learning difficulties in first grade. Every kid who was behind in the class had an anxious behavior (leaning back/rocking in chairs, throwing pencils, erasing/rewriting and erasing/rewriting and erasing/rewriting), and a lot of them relied on those behaviors as coping mechanisms, a way to distract me from the task at hand, and trying to avoid the inevitable - feeling inadequate at a school skill. Do not spend too much time on those behaviors, do not get negative - just causally, but firmly redirect and move on. (Sometimes easier said than done).

3. Here is my parenting tip for parents who realized that their kids are not, in fact, perfect: Have realistic and loving acceptance for your child.

Most parents do - how can we not love our kids and still see them as perfect the way they are! But what it is not often said is that parents with children that have special needs have to have that love and acceptance AGAINST a society that might not. Society stigmatizes against these kids and their parents.

I have a teacher this year that is on me about my daughter being late to school three times this semester and for letting her go in the front door vs the back door of the school. It made me feel as if all her difficulties in school came down to our morning routines. It is most important at that moment to remember that the criticism, especially in the IEP, is a result of the teacher looking for what is wrong with us, instead of seeing us as normal people with typical deficits. Do not lose sight of how awesome your kids and you are, just because a teacher, family or friend has.

4. Focus on talents! Let's face it, we all suck at something. We try to hide it, but we know it is there; however, we are all brilliant at something too. I have a daughter that really struggles with reading and math at school. But that same child is an amazing artist. She gets, and has always gotten, praise from teachers, peers and family. She is good and she knows it. Not only do I nurture this - I love it!

Above all keep in mind - we all fit in somewhere.  And that is not just fluffy talk – it is the truth!

Lots of Love - Happy Monday!

Altruism, Bystanders and Bullying

As I read about bullying, and I network, and hear people's experiences with bullying, I also see a true desire to understand what bullying is and a desire to stop it.  I feel encouraged and believe it is extremely paramount to get more information out there.

The Power of the Bystander: 

My daughter’s situation has been getting better.  I do not want to jinx this, but it is important to point out why it is getting better. 

My husband went to my youngest daughter's her classroom to see the class in action.  At one point the little boy who has been bullying her started walking towards her and, to his surprise, several students yelled at him “you are not allowed to walk over there!"  As a result he stopped, the teacher noticed and he left my daughter alone.  The other students are aware that he is supposed to leave my daughter alone and they spoke up BEFORE anything happened.  This is extremely impressive. 

However, nothing is perfect.  There are plenty of times he finds access to her.  Bullying, as I have read, is an “under the radar” form of abuse.  The bully looks for opportunities when the teacher is busy, when the principle is looking the other way.  The bully finds empowerment in circumventing authorities; therefore, bystanders become a key in ending the bullying.

Social Psychology Concepts: 
Bystander Intervention and Diffusion of Responsibility

I will take this section directly from a paper I wrote – so it might read a little different.

 ◦A Sad Story in New York (most likely well known for many):

Kitty Genovese is a woman who was stabbed to death and sexually assaulted on March 13, 1964 in Queens, New York in front of her apartment building.  Her death became famous in the social psychology world, because 38 neighbors admitted to having heard her screams from the street and not one of them called the police.  Kitty died with 38 witnesses watching her.

What social psychologists learned from the studies that followed this incident was that “the lesson is not that no one called despite the fact that thirty-eight people heard her scream; it’s that no one called because thirty-eight people heard her scream.”  (The Tipping Point).  This is termed in social psychology as the bystander intervention.  “Bystander intervention – that is, how likely it is for people to intervene in an emergency – have found that people are less likely to help when other people are around” because of diffusion of responsibility. 

Diffusion of responsibility is a social psychology principle and it is defined as this “a reduction of a sense of urgency to help someone involved in an emergency or dangerous situation under the assumption that others who are also observing the situation will help” (Social Psychology).

What do these concepts have to do with bullying?  Well, there is the bully, the bullied, and then there is a very large group of individuals that are the bystanders.  This group includes peers, children seeing the bullying happen.  Sometimes this includes adults.  And, as it turns out, the bystanders play an incredibility important role.  In Kitty’s situation it was life and death and in the most dramatic bullying situation, though it might not be obvious, it can also be life and death.

In more current news a Wang Yue, a two year old child, wondered into a crowded street in China and was hit by a truck.  Caught on a surveillance camera the world witnessed 18 different bystanders walk by the dying child and not one offering assistance.  The child was hit by another car before one bystander came forward and the child died a week later.  I will not include the link as I would not advise anyone watch it - I have not watched it and do not care to.  This situation is compounded by a government which adds additional fears of aiding victims; however, it does illistrate that this is a current problem.  And can be found in many current news media stories.

◦The Bystander:

Thus, social psychology enlightens us to a third active group in bullying: the bystander.  The audience which is watching the events play out is not impartial and has more power to sway the event than they may want responsibility for.  Had one of the 38 witnesses to Kitty’s brutal death called the police she would still be alive.  It is the same for bullying.  Society is what we as all members together make it.  Everyone plays a part. 

The Three Choices for Bystanders:

1.  Bystanders can actively join in: As Coloroso illustrates “when kids observe the aggressive antisocial activities of a bully, they are more likely to imitate those activities if they see the bully as a popular, strong, and daring role model… the apparent lack of negative consequences coupled with a bounty of prizes such as elevated status among their peers, applause, laughter, and approval (or in some cases monetary rewards) for the bullying contribute to the breakdown of the bystanders’ inner controls against antisocial activities.” 

This is also touches on the social psychology principles of deindividualization – the reduced sense of individual identity accompanied by diminished self regulation that comes over a person when he or she is in a large group (Social Psychology). “Being in a deindividuated state lowers the threshold of exhibiting behavior that is typically inhibited. People are more likely to engage in a host of impulsive behaviors, both because there is more of a ‘push’ to do so (because of increased arousal and many impulsive others to imitate) and because the constraints that usually ‘pull’ them back from such actions are weakened (because of a lessened sense of evaluation and responsibility). What emerges is the kind of impulsive, irrational, emotional, and occasionally destructive behavior that we think of as characteristic of mobs.” Mob mentality.  (Social Psychology). 

The choice to join the bully has many detrimental effects: adding distress to the bullied, reinforcing antisocial behavior of the bully, reinforcing prejudices of the society, AND also “hinder(ing) kids from developing empathy, compassion, and perspective talking – three essentials for successful peer relationships” affecting the bystander themselves.  (Coloroso)

2.  Bystanders can watch and say nothing: There are many reasons that peers do nothing when bullying takes place, most of which revolve around fear. They are afraid of getting hurt, becoming a new target, and of making the situation worse.

In doing nothing self-respect and self-confidence is damaged, and coupled with a lack of skills to handle the situation, peers can become apathetic “apathy – a potent friend of contempt. Contempt grows best in a climate of indifference.” (Coloroso). Contempt is what bullies thrive on.

Not doing anything also increases support of the bully and increases the likelihood that the onlookers will in the future join the bully.  From a societal perspective there is a loss of civil liberties in peer group reactions. “When civility is diminished, it is replaced by false sense of entitlement, an intolerance toward indifferences, and a liberty to exclude that allow kids to harm another being without feeling empathy” (Coloroso). This becomes a global failure to teach our children to the vital skills that are needed for solving problems, resolving conflicts and reconciling differences peacefully.

3.  Bystanders can become witnesses and they can defend the bullied: This last option is altruism – unselfish behavior that benefits other without regard to the consequences. (Social Psychology).  When we teach our children to be responsible wittnesses we raise responsible citizens.

Social psychology has conducted studies with interesting findings. Characteristics like similar race and ethnic identity of the victim influences the rate of people helping. The effort it would take from the peer to help also plays a role; people are less likely to help if it takes more effort. How clear the victim is that there is a problem also plays a part, “Bystanders help victims who scream and make their needs known between 75 to 100 percent of the time compared to silent victims between 24 to 40 percent of the time.” (Social Psychology).

Truly altruistic acts requires an individual to have empathy – identifying with another person is feeling understanding what that person is experiencing. (Social Psychology).

Empathy is an indicator of emotional intelligence and “effective conflict resolution requires empathy; kids have to be able to take their friend’s or siblings’ point of view into account, which presents a natural opportunity for the children to learn to consider other people’s feelings…. In addition to helping kids foster strong friendships, research shows that learning positive conflict resolution brings other benefits, including boosting academic performance and increasing self confidence and self esteem.  It has been linked to increased achievement, higher-level reasoning, and creative problem-solving.  Learning how to resolve conflict helps kids cope with other kind of stress as well- making them better adjusted teenagers-and more successful adults.” (http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/raising_happiness/).

 

Enough can not be said about empathy. It is a skill that enlightens the world. It is fundamental in happiness and navigating relationships at every level. It is used in social welfare, psychology, therapy and would be great if applied to politics. I am not Christian; however, I believe it is what Jesus preaches and is what Christianity aims to be about. It is kindness, understanding, tolerance and placing ourselves in the shoes of those we do not readily understand.

What we need to stop bullying is to teach our children to practice empathy, tolerance and to stick up for what is right, even when it is difficult. I do not suggest putting our children in harms way, but even getting an adult at the sight of bullying is responsible and gives our children confidence and skills to feel they can handle bad situations. Giving the child who is being bullied a hug or telling them privately that is wrong and they do not support it gives our children an outlet to express what they see as incorrect. It gives them power. Obviously, when it is safe, standing up to the bully as a group. Saying we will not tolerate your abuse of this individual.

Next time I want to provide strategies for bystanders.