D-Feast Friday - Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Can't be more simple.


Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
1C peanut butter
1C sugar
1beaten egg
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Combine all ingredients.  Shape dough into one inch balls.  Place on ungreased cookie sheet, two inches apart.  Press with a fork to flatten.

Bake 8 minutes until brown.  Cool Completely on pan, on wire rack.  Then transfer to storage container.

1 cookie = 10 carbs

Pumpkin Chip Cookies

Fall is in full swing here and I cannot get enough receipes with pumpkin and apples.  The smell of cinnamon wafting through the house just smells so comforting.  These cookies have become a favorite around here this time of year.

Pumpkin Chip Cookies
1C canned pumpkin
1 1/2 sticks of butter, softened
1 1/4C sugar (or Splenda)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2C flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. each cinnamon AND nutmeg (or use 1 tsp. of pumpkin pie spice)
1C chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Cream butter and sugar/splenda.  Beat in egg, pumpkin, and vanilla.

Combine dry ingredients.  Add to the pumpkin mixture.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Bake 8-10 minutes of greased cookie sheet.  Store these soft cookies with wax paper between layers.

I didn't know what I was going to put in this little pumpkin jar when I bought it, but now I do! 

This recipe makes 2 1/2 dozen soft cookies.

1 cookie = 10g carbs if using Splenda, 15g carbs if using sugar.

DBlog Day

Today, being "dblog day", we've been asked what six things we would like people to know about type 1 diabetes.  I figured I'd ask Taylar herself and get her input and help here... in her own words.

 - Diabetes is when your pancrease doesn't make insulin and you have to go to the hospital.

 - I want people to know about the OmniPod and that I like it a lot because you don't have to get shots. 

 - People with type 1 diabetes can eat whenever they are feeling hungry, well, except at school.  But you need insulin to help me not get "high" and to cover the carbs.

 - Oh, you can't catch diabetes from a friend. It's just happens.

 - When you're the only kid at school that has diabetes, you feel special sometimes.  (Yes, she is the only student out of about 300 kids)

 - Diabetes doesn't mean you're an odd person.

Halloween - Better late than never



Cowgirl Jessie and a crazy punk!


I love Halloween.  My birthday is on October 26, and growing up I would always have a Halloween costume birthday party.  My love for fall in New England and Halloween has certainly rubbed off on my kids too and we always have a fun time.  You would think that diabetes and all that trick or treat candy would cause mayhem, but I have been very lucky.  I've never been a Mom to hand out lollipops or other candy to the girls on a regular basis.  That was the same on Halloween as well, even before diabetes entered our lives.  They could each choose 2-3 pieces of candy, eat it, enjoy it, and then get over it.  No whining allowed!  This year Taylar never even asked the following day for some of her candy so the goodies we have aren't really a problem and will just be rationed out when the urge arises.



The girls and I made some pretty cool, unique Halloween decorations this year, thanks to D-Mom, Leighann.  I thought this was such a creative thing to do!  We changed these old OmniPods from this:

 To this!

Spider and pumpkin decorations made out of old used pods!

The PUMPkins and sPODers were easy and fun to make and you can find out how we did it by clicking here.  Taylar had an especially good time making an extra pump-kin and spider for her Aunt and Grandmum.  They thought they were adorable and Taylar got a kick out of them trying to guess what they were made out of.

Thanks Leighann for your creativity!

D-Feast Friday! Slow cooker hearty beef chili

Here's one to just throw in your crock pot and let simmer for a while.

Slow-Cooker Hearty Beef Chili

1 1/2 lbs. lean ground beef

2 15oz. can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (I use one red bean and one black)

1 1/2C Salsa

1 16oz. can tomato sauce

2 T chili powder

1 onion, chopped

1C corn kernels

Brown meat; drain.  Add to slow cooker with remaining ingredients.  Cover with lid and cook on low for 5-6 hours (or high for 3-4 hours).

Stir before serving and top with cheddar cheese and a side of nachos.

Yum!

Makes approximately 8 1-cup servings, about 20g carbs

Naked Pancreas!

Reyna over at Beta Buddies started the Naked Pancreas Challenge and I wanted to weigh in.  I haven't blogged in weeks so I figured this was a quick, easy one to do!


1. What kind of insulin management mode do you use?
Taylar has been using the OmniPod since May 10th of this year...the day after her 8th birthday.  Some present, huh?



2. How often do you inject/change pump sites?
We change the pod every 2-3 days.  Usually we go a full 3.

3. What type (s) of insulin do you use?
Novolog

4. What are your basal settings?
It took forever to figure them out and there is still tweaking that goes on, but for the moment she's at:
12am - 5am -  .45 u/hr

5am-10am - .40

10am - 8pm - .35

8pm - 10pm - .65

10pm - 12am - .60

It has taken quite a while and a lot of sleepless nights to get her overnight rates to where they should be.  She was constantly in the 200s at midnight check but this has taken care of it....for now.

5. What are your correction factors ?

During the day 1:80

At night 1:140 - This was changed a little while ago from 1:90 because after the corrected highs at midnight, she was dropping too low at 3am check.  The 1:140 is working better.  Ah, the joys of it all, huh?


6. What are your meal ratios ?
She starts and ends the day with the same ratios...

12am - 11:30am - 1:15 Breakfast & morning snack


11:30am - 1:30pm -  1:30 Lunch

1:30 - 4:00pm - 1:25 After school snack (if she has one)


4pm - 12am - 1:15 Dinner and bedtime snack



7. What do you do for activity and/or PE?
This past summer was the biggest challenge with just starting on the OmniPod and all that summer swimming!  Taylar could basically eat what she wanted on the days we were at the lake and in the water constantly.  Then at night she would always drop low when I checked her at 11pm or 12am though.  After 2 nights of that we did a -15% temp basal for 5 hours overnight and it worked perfectly.  The "lag effect" is definitely something we deal with a lot.  A couple of preset temp basals we have are:

Bike rides: -30% for duration of the ride
Dance: -20% for one hour
Soccer Practice:  -25% for one hour
Soccer Games: - 20% for one hour
Swimming (and bounce house/maze craze type places): -50% for duration

Taylar has PE at 9am this year so she usually tests after it.  Where it is so early in the day and so close to eating breakfast we haven't had any problems with lows which is a good thing.  Plus, her morning snack time is at 10:45, about one hour after PE ends. 


8. How do you manage Pizza, Macaroni and Cheese, or any other "difficult to manage" foods?
Pizza, pizza, oh how we love thee.  Taylar loves pizza.  Who doesn't?  I remember reading about pizza when she was first diagnosed and wondering what they heck the big deal was.  Well, I sure found out first hand.  Now that I get it, we use the extended bolus feature on her pump.  Bolus 35g carbs (depending) per slice giving her 50% now and extending 50% over 4 hours.  We just did this the other day when she had pizza at a party for lunch and she was 90 before bed! Yipee!  If we have pizza for dinner, however, I add a unit to the calculated bolus from the pump and then continue with the 50/50 extended.

Pizza is the worst, but we also extend on ice cream.  Usually 50/50 over 2 hours takes care of it. 

9. How do you prefer to manage your logs/data?

Well, I have an on again, off again, relationship with Taylar's "frog log".  I'm sure you know what I mean right?  I have about 4 of them from the hospital and I do prefer to do it the old fashioned way and just write things down.  We also download her pump to the computer and can look at it that way as well.


And that's Taylar's naked pancreas!

D-Feast Friday - Gooey Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

Have you ever been at the mall and walked by Cinnabon?  The smell of those cinnamon rolls baking is intoxicating in my opinion.  They are also loaded with carbs, calories, and fat.  Don't get me wrong I've had one once or twice but certainly not since D has entered our lives.

Here is Hungry Girl, Lisa Lillien's, version of "Gooey Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing".   Let's be honest, they don't compare to a huge Cinnabon roll, but they are good and fun for kids to make.  It is a better alternative plus you won't feel guilty after eating one of these.



Picture taken from "Hungry Girl 200 under 200" cookbook



Gooey Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

For Dough:  1 pkg. Crescent Rolls

For Filling:

1/4C brown sugar (not packed)

1/4C Splenda

1/2T Butter at room temperature

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/8 tsp Salt

For Icing:

1/4C Cool Whip, thawed

3T cream cheese at room temperature

1T Splenda

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine all filling ingredients making sure butter is incorporated evenly.  Set aside.

Combine all icing ingredients until smooth and chill in fridge to set.

Remove dough from package and knead into a ball using flour if necessary to help prevent sticking.  Using a rolling pin dusted lightly with flour, very firmly roll out dough into a thin sheet about 8x12 inches.  Spray the dough evenly with spray butter or an additional tablespoon of melted butter.

Spread filling out evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2inch border around edges.  Starting with a long side of the dough, roll it up tightly, forming a log.  Once dough is completely rolled up, pinch the long seam to seal.

Working with the seamside down, use a sharp knife to cut the log into 8 even pieces, being careful not to squish the dough. (A serrated bread knife is your best bet here.)

Arrange rolls in a baking pan swirl sides facing up. (I like to put them in a muffin tin!)  Press down on the tops of the pieces to flatten slightly and pinch side seams if necessary.

Cover pan with foil.  Bake 8 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Distribute icing over rolls and enjoy!

Makes 8 servings
126 calories and 18.5g carbs