Archives for March 2012

Nuggets: Free Stuff Is Awesome

Filed Under: Children, Cystic Fibrosis, Nuggets2 Comments

Welcome to the randomness that has been our lives for the last couple of weeks. It’s been hard to focus on any one project because we keep being pulled away by so many constant distractions. It feels like I’ve been stuck right in the middle of several projects forever now. Hopefully life will slow down just briefly so that I can catch up!

In spite of the craziness, there is always time to appreciate little bits of happiness in our lives. And not much can make you happier than getting free stuff! Everybody loves free stuff! A few nuggets…

:: I was in charge of bringing veggies for a star-themed baby shower for a long-time friend. I used the opportunity to complete my first project inspired by Pinterest. I combined a few different pins I liked and came up with these little veggie and dip cups. Thank goodness for free ideas supplied by the internet. The shower was great and so much fun!

Pinterest veggies

:: You know you’re married to a CFer when you start to accumulate stationary and mugs from your CF hospital. We now have several note pads from various visits. We also scored a whole baggy of travel sized toiletries on this visit. Jesse didn’t use all of them so we brought the rest home… because they were free. I like to keep extras of things like that in our guest bathroom for guests. I also think they’ll be good for our foster kids to use if we have them for a short visit. It’s kinda like showing your school pride, only weirder!

TGH stuff

:: We had another visit with our licensing agent last week. She brought us our MAPP class certificates. Turns out we had been missing one homework assignment all this time and never knew about it. We got that turned in and now we are officially graduated from MAPP class (even though our names are spelled wrong).

MAPP certificates

:: Our agent also brought over our foster parent handbook… that will be some fun reading. And she brought our foster parent starter kit. I’m not too sure we need all of this, but I never say no to free stuff!

HandbookStarter kit

Thanks for being random with me. Have you scored any free stuff lately? Happy hump day!

Namaste Foods: Say Cheez Pasta Meal

Filed Under: Allergies, Food Reviews, Recipes7 Comments

Macaroni and cheese is a no-brainer comfort food. It’s a quick, last minute meal that you never really get tired of having. As a kid the box macaroni and cheese was a meal we made ourselves for lunch at least once a week during summers. Homemade, “real” macaroni and cheese is a recipe that has always been one of my favorites.

I was pretty excited to find Namaste Foods’ allergy-friendly version of a boxed macaroni and cheese mixture. It’s nice to keep something like that in the pantry for nights when I’m too tired to make a whole dinner. I was pleased with the price of this meal, sometimes the gluten-free meals are pretty expensive. It was super easy to make. Just boil noodles and add sauce packet to heating oil and water… mix together.

Namaste pasta package

I was very impressed with the taste and texture of the rice pasta in the Say Cheez Meal. We both thought it was better than any other gluten-free pasta we have tried. The taste of the sauce was good, but really didn’t taste much like macaroni and cheese. I can’t really blame them for trying to make a cheese sauce without the use of any dairy ingredients. We both agreed that we’d like it better if we thought of it as a pasta dish rather than macaroni and cheese.

Namaste finished pasta

I’d definitely buy it again to keep for an easy meal… I just wont make it when I’m craving macaroni and cheese. Have you tried this pasta? What did you think about it?