Muffins for OT…Treatment projects….rain….did I mention OT….

The pictures above are completely random ones from StumbleUpon. To match this random post….which does talk about OT, I promise 🙂

It is rainy and dreary outside. OTS Brooke came over in the morning before she went to work to dig through my five boxes of bizarre art-related items, and found a bunch of items she could use for “sensory” stuff. Then I reread a book by David Sedaris (he coulda used some OT as a child!). Then I made carrot-pumpkin muffins and they are the most amazing things ever. I'll even tell you about them. You take a box of carrot cake mix (or devil's food chocolate mix or probably any cake mix really), and mix it with one normal can of plain pumpkin (I guess they are around 16 oz-ish?), and 1/4 cup of water. Add in some more cinnamon/nutmeg as you want. No oil, no eggs…ie disregard the back of the cake mix instructions. Put it in cupcake holder cups in a cupcake pan. Take a knife, wet it with water, and smooth down the peaks of the cupcake batter (or the peaks will burn). I like to call them Heidi muffins because it looks like the Swiss Alps before you pat down the peaks. Get it? I'm so hilarious. Bake at 350 for about 20 mins, but keep an eye on them so they don't dry out. This recipe came off Dotti's Weight Loss Zone site. She is a Weight Watchers devotee.  It's one of my favorite recipes because it is easy and relatively healthy. And you can't taste the pumpkin. You only have to mention it so people who are allergic don't die.

OTS Kerri, her husband Brent, and I, made these last night at her house using a reduced sugar devil's food chocolate cake mix, and we added in chocolate chips. SO GOOD. It gave me inspiration for today. I'm eating my carrot-pumpkin muffin right now with margarine and Splenda (I taunt you, cancer) and it is SO good.

Watch me cleverly tie this back into OT….because all you really need is pumpkin, a few muffin tins, a few utensils, and cake mix (well and access to a kitchen for the oven)….it would be a great mildly healthy cooking activity with a patient….pretty straight forward since you only have a few ingredients, don't really need to measure, and don't need messy oil or perishable items. And you can eat some dough without getting salmonella.  The hardest part, because the batter is very thick, would be getting it into the muffin tins properly.

Last night, Kerri & Brent cooked me dinner (yum turkey fajitas), and then I helped Kerri use contact paper to finish her treatment project. Hers is for a young child with tactile defensiveness and it involved lots of textures and some puzzle pieces. She actually BUILT a table for the project! Pretty impressive! I didn't have my camera but we will video doing it! She made me do it and I'm ashamed to say I'm not smarter than a three year old.

Then she helped me with my treatment project by coming up with a cute design for the little game pieces and then helping me make (ok, she made them and I helped) them out of weird clay you bake and it stays bendy!She and I played my game and it was pretty cool. This afternoon I just need to finish making cards and putting contact paper around them as a cheap laminate, to go with my game board….and a few other touches…. I'll take a picture tonight of the final product.

I also need to do an essay on an adaptive activity of daily life that I forgot about….and work on my professional development evaluations…and stuff like that. I already did my dishes, phew….hate that chore most of all! I plan to have a relaxing day just getting my OT projects done!

I've rested a lot since Wednesday, and I've really needed it with all the craziness of grad school!…I'm starting to feel normal again. But I'm so behind on e-mail that what will probably happen is I'll start answering them while I'm in San Diego, home alone without a car while my parents work, the week before Christmas, with nothing else to do! But still send me e-mail because I love it!

This week we have a bunch of projects due…and present our treatment projects….have assessment labs…leadership where OTS Cheryl & I get to present on the Centennial Vision from Conclave….discussion of case studies…a neuro final…etc. But really overall, not nearly as bad a week as it could be.

I guess I'm technically procrastinating from working on my sensory game cards by writing this long post…but I'm so tired of dealing with contact paper I could scream! I'm going to go start though….sigh!

Nov 25, 2007 | Category: Occupational Therapy | Comments: none