Pizza Alternative...

We are definitely some pizza lovers, including Owen, but we don't get to have it very often because of his dietary restrictions. So...today for lunch, I decided to try a low-fat pizza alternative. I got the idea from here but made a few changes to keep it low-fat.

The ingredients: Turkey Meatballs, 2% mozzarella cheese, Prego "veggje smart" pasta sauce, and low-fat tortillas

• Spread a few spoon fulls of pasta sauce on the tortilla
• Warm up meatballs (follow directions of package). We had meatball subs last night for dinner, so I just used the leftovers
• Cut up meatball to desired size and spread over tortilla
• Cover with Mozzarella
• Broil in oven for 3-4 minutes or until cheese is melted
  

It was a really simple and easy lunch that the whole family enjoyed. I also folded it over and cut it into triangles to make it easier for Owen to eat...AND of course had fat-free ranch for him to dip it in!

Owen in the Kitchen

Owen is quite the little helper! I decided to make low-fat chocolate pudding the other night and thought it might me fun to let Owen help.

He's favorite part was licking all the pudding off the spatula and bowl....

the finished product...

He was a mess, but it was totally worth it!!

Saturday....

Owen and I started our Saturday morning with the neighborhood garage sales. Our neighborhood has a joint garage sale with the connecting neighborhood every year...it's always the second weekend in May. I thought we might find some fun toys for Owen's daycare, but apparently you have to get up early for the good deals. Since we're not really early risers, Owen and I ended up doing some garage sale browsing instead of garage sale shopping.

After our morning adventures, we headed to the Arvest Ballpart for the March of Dimes march for babies. Their mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. All of the money raised helps to support research and programs that help babies begin healthy lives. We have a Children's Therapy TEAM that walks in the march for
babies every year.

Owen and Mary Claire waiting for the walk to begin...

Our kids in front of the Children's Therapy TEAM booth...

After the March of Dimes walk, we went to the Bentonville clinic to work on the mats in the gym. Owen and Josh had a blast playing on all the equipment. I'm not sure who had more fun, Josh or Owen. They played in the ball pit, jumped on the trampoline, climbed on the jungle gym, and went down the slide...then I had to pull Josh away to help me with the mats.

"This is fun"

The finished product...

Owen played so hard that he crashed on the way home...

For dinner we tried a new dish....low fat king chicken. It passed the test for all three of us so...it's a keeper!

For those other VLCAD parents out there...here's the recipe

3 large chicken breast, cooked and cubed

2 cans low-fat cream of mushroom soup

1 can low-fat cream of chicken soup

1 can Rotel tomatoes with green chiles

1 green peper, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1- 6.5 oz package of corn tortillas

2 cups shredded fat free Cheddar cheese

Saute green pepper and onion in nonstick skillet sprayed with cooking oil spray

Mix sauteed green pepper and onions with both soups, rotel, and cubed chicken

In a 13x9 casserole dish, layer mixture alternately with tortillas and cheese

(make sure cheese is not on top - it melts better)

Bake at 300 for 40-45 minutes

Dinner and a game...

Owen got to have pizza for dinner tonight...it was actually more like pizza bake but he didn't know the difference. We found a low fat pizza crust recipe on the back of the heart health Bisquick box, so we decided to give it a try. The ingredients: Bisquick pizza crust, diced tomatoes, veggies, grilled chicken, and fat free mozzarella for a total of 7.5 grams of fat for the whole pizza. Owen loved it, but Josh and I thought the crust could use some help....so we'll continue the search for a more "normal"

crust that's low fat.

The pizza bake...

Owen cleaned his plate and wanted more
After dinner, we headed to Lake Fayetteville to watch the TEAM play softball. The girls ended up playing a team of former softball players so the score was not so pretty but everyone had a blast. Owen watched the game on and off, cheered for the girls, played with the other kids, climbed all over the bleachers, ran around the ballpark, and played in the dirt. He was on the go the whole time!

Owen watching the game...

Blakely and Owen playing in the dirt...

The TEAM...

Weekend Festivities

A relaxing weekend...Finally! It's seems like we've been going non-stop lately, so it was nice to spend a weekend at home with nothing to do.

Saturday morning, we decided to experiment with Owen's menu. As most of you know, Owen is on a very strict low fat diet because of his diagnosis of VLCAD. His metabolic nutritionist recently changed his allowable fat intake to 10 grams a day, which was very exciting because up til this point he was only allowed 2 grams of fat per day. So, on Saturday morning we tried low fat blueberry pancakes...and Owen LOVED them!

For those of you who are wondering how to make low-fat pancakes...we used the Heart Smart Bisquick, skim milk (0 fat), egg beaters (0 fat), and fat-free Promise butter. And instead of greasing the griddle, we sprayed it with Smart Balance Omega non stick cooking spray.

After a short nap, Owen and I headed out for a little shopping with Cassady and Layla. We went to OOPS, the most random store in Northwest Arkansas. It's like a TJ max on steroids...one minute your looking at area rugs and the next minute your looking at a statue, food, greenery, lamps, or a water hose...You never know what you're going to find at OOPS. They also have the biggest rocking chair I've ever seen...so of course I had to take a picture.