Maple-apple cranberry crumble.....

Cranberry-apple maple crumble.....
Originally uploaded by Lalabaloobah

Alrighty internets...you are wanting a recipe of this fine and tasty dessert. Well, here goes. It's easy-peasy and this was our 4th of July dessert. It's pretty healthy too. Just make sure that if you can't find Rome or Stayman apples, well, make sure you ask for something that isn't too sweet..I used Fuji apples here. Also, I used cranberry fruit juice concentrate....next time, I would like to try Agave or Honey. Let me know if you try this deliciousness...would love to hear if you enjoyed it as much as we did! Oh and yes, we had a bit of frozen vanilla yogurt with it..it was yummy! Enjoy!

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1 cup of rolled oats, preferably organic
1 cup of fresh cranberries, rinsed
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup fruit juice concentrate, barley malt syrup, or honey
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 large apples, such as Rome or Stayman,

peeled, cored, and quartered
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Vanilla nonfat frozen yogurt or soy-based equivalent (optional)

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Heat the oven to 375 degrees.
Place the oats and cranberries in a food processor or blender and process in short spurts to pulverize. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
In saucepan, combine your choice of one of the following, barley-malt syrup, fruit juice concentrate, or honey (again, here I used the fruit juice concentrate), along with the maple syrup and vanilla. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat and pour over oat-cranberry mixture. Stir well, working the syrup into the oats with your hands.
Put the apples in a deep baking dish and in a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle, over the apples and then cover with oat/cranberry mixture.
Put your beauties in the oven and bake until the oats turn light brown for 20 minutes. Make sure you can pierce the apples fully and easily. If the oats brown too quickly, get some foil and cover the dish...just make sure to lower the heat to 325 degrees if this happens to you. Continue baking until the apples are tender.
Serve with vanilla yogurt, ice-cream, or a soy equivalent..most importantly, ENJOY AND SHARE WITH YOUR LOVIES!!!

taken from The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook, by Diana Shaw

Summer song.....

I heard this the first summer I was in Chicago. Hope you enjoy it too!

Summertime....

There is a whole lot to say about these photos, but I'll let them speak for themselves. I love summer! Enjoy!

Boozle bear...

HAEvent - 23
Originally uploaded by boozlebear

At this moment during the conference, Solan had the great opportunity to stuff his own Boozle Bear. The Hydrocephalus Association has come up with these beautiful creatures as an educational tool for children and grown-ups to gain awareness about Hydrocephalus. Boozle has a shunt and it can be easily removed and ready for surgical implantation...on the bear, of course! It's wonderful!! Solan lovingly calls him Goo-Goo bear and talks about Hydrocephalus to just about everyone. It's quite surprising. Today, we saw Dr. Handler, our neurosurgeon, for his yearly checkup...of course, Goo-Goo bear was with us and he was quite excited to talk about Goo-Goo's shunt. Dr. Handler was amused especially when Solan mentioned the lateral ventricles. :) As far as the checkup, well, all is wonderful in the land of his brain! We are needing to get some CT scans of his brain in the next couple of weeks, but thank goodness for new technology because he won't have to go under!! Woo-hoo! Thanks Boozle bear, we love you!!

My little angel..

My little angel..
Originally uploaded by Lalabaloobah

You know, I don't know if you know this or not, but my little angel has Hydrocephalus. Do you know what it is? Well, we had the wonderful opportunity to be part of the Hydrocephalus Association Conference in Park City, Utah. It was completely moving. Emotionally exhausting and powerful to say the least. There were so many parents that have children with Hydro, individuals both young and old, and also just advocates that care for this population. I am amazed how beautiful every individual with Hydro is...as if they are angels walking on this earth. Some well, it's obvious that they have Hydro. Others, like my little guy, not so obvious. But as I continued to inform myself about the latest in Hydrocephalus, I began to realize that my life has been in a bit of flux because of him and his Hydro. I haven't settled in my emotions as a concerned parent. I haven't let myself feel the pain of knowing that my little guy will grow with this condition for the rest of his life. I haven't come to terms with the fact that there is always a risk of shunt failure and infection. So, this weekend was the opportunity for all of it, literally, all of it, to hit me. He may not have obvious signs of having Hydrocephalus, but as we inch closer and closer to entering the public school system, I am reminded that there may be cognitive issues and concerns. In matter of fact, we found out that Hydro kids are children easy to get upset and overly emotional/frustrated about the little things in life. And yes, he does..most certainly he becomes that little guy that we can't console. We found out that yes, it may take time for him to process certain information like cleaning his room. For instance, telling him over and over to pick things up...sounding like a broken record and getting anxious, stressed, and frustrated about his lack of responsibility, etc. Well, it all makes sense...it's my child's Hydrocephalus. He's not ignoring us, he's trying to process information. And it takes a while, most definately. We found out that there is a strong possibility in regards to how he isolates himself...this happens during school and at home and its a part of the Hydrocephalus. His isolation of himself is again, a processing issue. He may have difficulty sticking with a group of kiddos who are not only his age, but kiddos who are running around and doing all those kiddo things at such a fast, kiddo pace. He has to slow down, to catch his breath, more like catch up his mind and body with what is happening. Again, it's the Hydrocephalus. So as I take all this in, I breathe a bit deeper and take a moment to be thankful for all that he is. Hopefully, you'll remind me too. My little angel is more than you know, in matter of fact, he's more than what I know. He will grow and become the child, teen, and adult with Hydrocephalus. He isn't Hydrocephalus, but simply a wonderful bright star in my daily life. I would have it no other way. Come visit some more photos here....

Obama, Obama, Obama!!!!

So, I found this in the comments of Obama claiming the Democratic Party Presidential nomination via the Washington Post. Hope you'll read it too..it's history in the making people, history!

Fellow Obamanots:

HISTORY is being made tonight and it is a very fine thing. Barack Obama is a man of high intellect and integrity. The poser who considers himself an imbecile must have been looking in the mirror. Hillary put up a great fight and we will soon see her helping our man the best she can to get our man into the White House.

Stay focused on the big prize and get ready to rumble with John Mc War and his hit men. They will be coming at us with all sorts of other lies to make us fear Barack Obama being our President.

You know what to expect:
Barack is too young
Barack is a Muslim
Barack will surrender to terrorists
We wont be safe America
Life begins at inception
We know the economy better than Barack
he will talk to bad guys

Blah Blah Blah. they will put up as many boogeymen as Hillary put up lies.

Barack Obama scares the hell out of the status quo because it is their power that will be usurped and ours as the people will be restored. Thank god he has assembled he best political campaign team in the history of our country. Plouffe, Axelrod and the 1.7 million of us out there pounding the pavement and making the calls for change are unstoppable. Rest you won the first battle against the biggest name in politics and we will need the energy between now and November.

God Bless you and God bless the United States of America the only country where all this could happen. We are truly the people we have been waiting for.

Posted by: Raul Pedraza | June 3, 2008 8:34 PM

I'm hurting...hurtin', hurtin'....

So, my left scapula is on fire. It hurts terribly. I am having a difficult time moving my neck, sneezing, and just standing. I think I must have slept wrong..but not sure. My son is wanting to play, but it just hurts too much. I can tell the muscles are getting warmer/loosening, but it still hurts. It feels like a rock to be honest and even after some Reiki and a little ice..it hurttttttttssssssss!!! Help..........