bountifulplate

One of Dominic's "gifts" is definitely knowing his way around a computer. He taught himself how to get into YouTube and about this time last year, he seemed to be watching a lot of videos about elevators. They all seemed to be narrated by the same person. After doing a bit of research, I discovered that the gentleman narrating them has his own website, http://www.dieselducy.com/  and several videos on YouTube . It turns out he has Asperger's Syndrome. Even now, one year later, Dominic is still super fascinated with elevators.  During this past summer, we decided to use his love for elevators to our advantage. Going to weekly Mass is very important to our family. Since Dominic was about a year old, we have been sitting in an area of our church, where you can still hear the Mass, but are behind a glass window.  For many years, both the hubby and Lauren kept encouraging me to let Dominic go inside the church. Anytime either of them even mentioned going inside, I would ...

This coming Monday will be two months since Lauren left for college. I have had more than one person ask me how I'm doing with her being gone. I guess if I could sum up the feeling in one word, it would be, "different." The college Lauren is attending is 90 miles away. Yesterday, since my schedule was clear and Lauren has no Friday classes, I decided to hop into the car and drive over to visit her while Dominic was at school. I had a Panera gift card, and knowing how much Lauren loves their macaroni and cheese, I invited her to lunch. It was awesome to have my girl completely to myself for a few hours. After lunch, I drove her back to her dorm and dropped her off. On my drive back home, I caught myself smiling because I know that Lauren is happy.  Isn't that kind of the way it goes with your children (even if they are adults)? If they are happy, then you are happy, right? My first semester as a college freshman was much different.  In the Fall of 1981, I went...

When I first started writing this blog over three years ago, I would have been overjoyed if just one or two people read it. Wow, I am totally blown away that at last count, I had over 28,000 page views!  I continue to be grateful for every single person that takes a few minutes to read my blog posts.  A close friend of mine, Julie, recently nominated me for the "One Lovely Blog Award." This blog award is for "those newer or up-and-coming" bloggers. The goal is to help give recognition and to help the new blogger reach more viewers. It also recognizes blogs that are considered to be "lovely" by the fellow blogger who chose them. This award acknowledges bloggers who share their story or thoughts in a beautiful manner with the viewers and followers. To "accept" the award, I have to do the following: Thank and link back to the person who nominated you for the award. List the rules and display the One Lovely Blog Award logo to your pos...

Lauren came home briefly this past weekend from college, in part, because she missed my "home cooked meals." She has asked me for years to make chicken pot pie and since previous attempts had not ended well, I kept putting it off. It wasn't until my best friend gave me a great recipe a few months ago, did I even want to attempt to make it again. Friday night, I made a roast chicken and homemade mashed potatoes (two of Lauren's favorite foods) and since I had about two cups of chicken leftover, I made a chicken pot pie on Saturday night and told her if there was any left, she could take it back with her on Sunday afternoon.  As I was getting ready to drive her back, she was like, "did you remember my pot pie?!?!?!?"  I quickly grabbed the container out of the fridge and she took it with her. When my stepson comes to visit, I like to feed him. I've been cooking for him since I met him over twenty years ago. He has barely set foot in our house, before I...

I would definitely categorize sugar cookies as a "classic" type of cookie.  Dominic calls them "sugar cookies with sprinkles," because when we make them, there are  ALWAYS sprinkles involved!  I'm beginning to think I need to start buying sprinkles by the gallon :) Anyways, what's a way to make a "classic" cookie even better? How about adding chocolate?!?!?!?!?! Yep, I took my favorite sugar cookie recipe, tweaked it a little and added baking cocoa. They turned out awesome and everybody in this house liked them!! Which plate of cookies would you prefer? No sprinkles? Or sprinkles? Who would like to take a guess as to which plate Dominic would prefer?!?!?! Ingredients 3 cups white flour 1 cup white sugar 1 cup margarine, softened 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/2 cup baking cocoa Topping: 1 tablespoon white sugar Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put the on...

Before I entered the special needs "world," about eight years ago, I had never met anyone with Autism. While I certainly don't proclaim to be an expert, I definitely know a lot more now than I did when Dominic was first diagnosed. Autism Speaks ( http://www.autismspeaks.org/ ) has an amazing website and if your child is newly diagnosed, please take the time to look at all the resources they have. Even if your child doesn't have Autism, chances are, you probably know of or know a family who does have a child with Autism.  Here is a great definition of Autism from the Autism Speaks website:  "Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and autism are both general terms for a group of complex disorders of brain development. These disorders are characterized, in varying degrees, by difficulties in social interaction, verbal and nonverbal communication and repetitive behaviors. With the May 2013 publication of the  DSM-5 diagnostic manual , all autism disorders were merged into...

When the hubby came back from grocery shopping earlier in the week, he handed me a butternut squash and said, "this was on sale and I knew you could figure out how to use it!" Well, I think I have cooked butternut squash one time in my entire life.  We were going to make last night "leftover" night, because Dominic has music therapy from 7:15-7:45 p.m. every Wednesday and we don't get back home until about 8:00 p.m. Even though we had some great leftovers (ribs and spaghetti), I wanted to try out a new recipe in the slow cooker - pumpkin and black bean chili, which I have never made before. When I had proposed my recipe idea earlier in the week, my husband told me he WOULDN'T eat pumpkin and black bean chili, if I made it, so I figured he could eat the ribs or spaghetti! At the last minute, I decided to use the butternut squash instead of the pumpkin. Wow, it was quite an "adventure" figuring out how to peel and cube that kind of squash. Peeling th...