My Migraine Coping Routine

For as long as I can remember I have gotten bad headaches and/or migraines fairly often. For various reasons I have never been able to take medicine specific to migraines which has often left me writhing in pain for hours until I got over it. Over the last few years I have found a system that works well for me in coping with /alleviating my migraine pain as quickly as possible. Here are a few of the tricks that I use that work well for me. 

1. Tylenol or Ibuprofen - According to the instructions on the bottle. Sometimes this is a last resort because accompanying migraines I often feel nauseous and throwing up sometimes makes me feel a lot better. Throwing up medication is one of the worst tasting things ever though, so if I feel like my migraine is heading that direction, I avoid taking any medication.
2. A hot shower - As long as I can tolerate the hot water, I like to submerge my head, feet and hands. 
3. Laying in a dark room with my head pressed into a heating pad - My husband gave me a teddy bear heating pad from Mama Bear Soaps a few years ago and I still consider it to be one of the best gifts ever! It is the same concept as a rice heating bag but it is a stuffed animal that is full of wheat and smells like lavender (well it did for the first few years, I'm probably due for a new one soon). I keep it next to my bed so that I can easily grab it in the middle of the night if I feel a migraine coming on. 
4. Soda with caffeine - I rarely drink soda which means that if I drink a soda with caffeine while I have a migraine it usually helps. 

Usually if I do all of these things the migraine lasts for 1-2 hours and at that point I start to function again. Sometimes I'm left with a dull headache, but that is much more tolerable than the alternative. If I'm not feeling any relief, I will repeat the shower and heating pad part of the routine and that usually takes care of it. 

Other solutions I have used occasionally, lavender essential oil worked once for me but several times has not. Another time I was at my sisters house (getting migraines in the middle of the night at someone else's house is the worst!) and she gave me some DoTerra essential oil to rub on my feet and it seemed to work pretty well. And there is always getting up and moving around and trying to focus on other things. This option is hit or miss for me. 

The most anticipated event in my yard...the PEONIES are here!!!

The most anticipated time in my garden has arrived, the first of the peonies are in bloom! I have four beautiful peony bushes, and the bold pink ones are always the first because they grow in direct sunlight. The other three bushes are shaded for a good portion of the day and so they bloom a week or so later which is perfect because it means peony season in my yard lasts just a bit longer. I didn't know it until we moved in, but peonies really are my favorite flower.

Slow Cooker Vegetable Lasagna

I love this recipe because it is easy to prepare, loaded with veggies, and it is one of few recipes that has zucchini as an ingredient that my husband will actually eat. I've been making it for a few years now and it has become a staple in our house year-round. It is great in the summer when the garden is bursting with zucchini (I wish I had that problem, I usually end up buying it because mine never grows) and the slow cooker doesn't heat up the house. In the winter it also makes for great comfort food. One of the best parts about this recipe is that it calls for regular lasagna noodles, but you don't have to boil them!

Slow Cooker Vegetable Lasagna
(Adapted from Raise Healthy Eaters)

Ingredients
1 cup mozzarella cheese (divide in half)
15 ounces cottage-cheese
2 eggs
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon salt (1/2 t for zucchini, 1/2 t for cheese mixture)
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
3 cups shredded zucchini
Garlic spaghetti sauce (26 ounce jar)
10 lasagna noodles

Directions
-Shred carrots and cook in the microwave for 2 minutes.
-Mix 1/2 cup mozzarella, cottage cheese, eggs, Parmesan, and 1/2 t salt, and carrots.
-Mix 1/2 t salt with the zucchini
-In a greased slow cooker, layer: 2/3 cup sauce, noodles, 1 cup cheese, 1 cup zucchini, 2/3 cup sauce, and repeat.
-Top with 1/2 cup mozzarella.
-Cook on high for 3 hours.

Snack Time: Easy and Cheap Pudding Pops

I suppose I can't say that these pudding pops are easier to make than Otter Pops, because you actually have to follow a few more steps than just placing them in the freezer. You have to mix the pudding, put it into the popsicle mold, and then wash the popsicle mold when the pudding pops are gone. Not a ton of effort and I like to think that they have a little more nutritional value in them because of the milk used to make the pudding.

Here is what you will need:

1 box of instant pudding, any flavor. I used the 5.25 oz package because it makes eight and I have eight spots in my popsicle mold. 

Milk (see package for amount)

I am sure I'm not the first person to think of these, but they've been a huge hit at our house for the past several weeks that I have to document this in case I forget and try to complicate things again.

I used to go through more effort in actually following a recipe, some of my favorites came from the Our Best Bites blog. The pudding pops from these recipes are delicious but call for extra ingredients such as half-and-half, which I don't always have on hand. After trying these a few times with the kids liking these just as much or better, for their snack time I will be sticking with these. Of course when I feel like a pudding pop, I will probably choose the fancier versions. 

So far their favorite flavors have been pistachio and vanilla. They said that the chocolate pudding pops were just ok. 

Too Old to Share

Last week we took our girls to their first baseball game. They went crazy when they saw rows and rows of empty seats around us because all of the rain kept people away. They had so much fun until it came time for the actual game to start.

At that point our oldest asked if she could have a hot dog. We had eaten dinner before we left for the game, a filling meal--chili, so nobody actually needed food. But our kids love hot dogs and my husband decided that the occasion of attending a first baseball game called for a hot dog (for a snack)...despite the outrageous price tag. Half of the time when we buy our kids food while we are out to eat, they waste most of the meal anyway so sometimes we make them share. He took the girls to buy one and got a drink and one hot dog, which he and my oldest were going to share.  He also brought back a screaming almost two-year-old.

She was angrier than I have ever seen her, and despite several efforts to offer her some of the drink, a bite of hot dog, and snacks from my purse. Nothing worked, and she decided to take matters into her own hands. Still clueless about why she was so angry, I decided to follow her and when I finally thought to ask her if she wanted a hot dog (she was headed out to get her own) she suddenly calmed down and nodded her head. She didn't want to share the hot dog, she wanted her own.

A few minutes and  $7.50 later, everyone had their own hot dog and we were able to enjoy the game. 

*My husband still didn't believe that she needed her own at this point, but she scarfed the whole thing down in a few seconds.

May: Seen Around Here

We've has a ton of rain the past few weeks. I wish that I could say it helped my tulips to grow this year, but I'm pretty sure they were all eaten by a vole last winter and will not be returning. 

I came downstairs one morning after taking a quick shower, and I found this very happy chair in our kitchen. Artistic message my almost two-year-old was trying to convey: If you sit in this chair you will have a happy bum???

A few weeks ago we were spending time with one of my sisters and were working on a craft that was not child friendly. My sister within seconds came up with a kid friendly craft for my four-year-old, a non-messy version of prayer rocks. What's better than one prayer rock? Five! I had forgotten all about them until I went to wash her sheets two weeks later. With that many rocks under her pillow she will most definitely be praying.

It is fun to see the different outfits my daughter's "American Girl" (Target Brand) dolls are decked out in each morning. She loves her dolls very much!

I also love finding new works of art, like this curtain chandelier.

And this countdown calendar for her birthday that she made all by herself.

This girl has always been quite a character, but lately she is becoming even more of one. She thought it would be fun to watch the rain yesterday with a towel on her head, in case rain started coming inside the house?...Which is not so crazy because we are indeed having a little bit of a water issue with all of the rain. 

She has the best facial expressions. Left is her "I want something smile." Right is the face she makes when giving a kiss.

A little bit of rain watching.

Taking pictures of the rain. And pictures of her Barbie. 

This month we've had some really good hair days...and some pretty scary hair days.

A kitchen argument that I didn't win. And a Corn Bread recipe.

      A few years ago my husband purchased a Lodge Cast-Iron Skillet and a silicone handle holder. The skillet only cost $15 and he was really excited to start using it. His instructions to me were to never clean it with soap, just use a stiff brush and a little bit of water.  Then dry it and coat it with a little bit of oil. Immediately, I scoffed at the idea of using a pan that sounded so "fussy," to clean. No soap? No way! Why on earth would I want to cook with that something that couldn't be thrown into the dishwasher like my Teflon? (I probably shouldn't put that in the dishwasher either...) 

     But then I started to cook with it, and I really liked it. Food wasn't getting caked on and burned, cleaning it took less time than washing it with soap, and the food just tasted better. Immediately I started using the cast-iron skillet exclusively, and I had to admit to my husband that he was right. Now I only use my teflon pans if I have to because I am cooking multiple things at once. Really I would like to throw them away and only keep two pans in my kitchen, the cast iron skillet and an Enamel Coated cast-iron dutch oven pot. They are pricey though so it is currently on my wish list. Also owning one in a large size, and one in a smaller size wouldn't be worst thing in the world. Green, Blue, or Aqua would be my preference. 

     I should note that since we picked up the original skillet, we added a mini-sized skillet to our collection that we picked up at a second-hand shop in Carson City, NV. Cast-iron has been used for cooking for 1,000s of years so obviously I was late to the bandwagon, but some of my favorite parts about using our cast-iron skillet are: that I don't have to use as much oil because food generally doesn't stick, the iron content in my food is increased from cooking with cast-iron, I don't accidentally swallow chemicals that start to chip off of the Teflon, it is very durable, and I can use it on the stove and in the oven which is awesome! Especially when I am cooking a Dutch Baby, or something else that has to stay warm. Actually funny story about cooking a Dutch Baby in the wrong kind of pan. I originally tried a 9x13 glass dish but it ended up too dense. Then I thought it might be a good idea to use a cheapo wok from Ikea. The only problem was that the wok had a wooden handle. When the oven started to smoke, I knew there was a problem. Cast-iron to the rescue! 
     And  since I pretty much use my cast-iron skillet for everything, here is one of my favorite recipes that tastes 100 times better when cooked in a cast-iron skillet--my favorite Corn Bread recipe. I usually just use my Better Homes and Garden cookbook, I have the 12th edition but the link that I included will take you to the online version of the recipe. It is delicious and so easy to make! I always have the ingredients on hand which makes it easy to whip some up as a last minute side dish. The best part about it is that the recipe takes less than five minutes to mix, and fifteen minutes to bake, so it can really be last minute!