Cauliflower Broccoli Egg Casserole

Dear Natasha Advocates, 

I am sorry I have been missing in action for so long. I have been advocating on FB for 

her to still come home so please follow me there for updates.

Most likely she will never come home.

Therefore, I am trying the best I can to go on with life and 

support the Russian orphans the best way I know how....

By making sure they don't ever become orphans in the first place. 

I am still donating my proceeds for 

Natasha and the Christmas Wish 

to Downside Up. 

If you have not had a chance to purchase Natasha's story you can do so here.

Remember the book is available in Russian too. 

Or

you can directly donate to Downside Up here. 

In the meantime I am still desperately trying to loss all the failed adoption weight

that has accumulated on my body the last 7 years. 

That is why I am posting this recipe here. 

I do not do exact measurements on all ingredients 

so feel free to make this recipe your own. 

Cauliflower Broccoli Egg Casserole

1 10 ounce bag frozen riced cauliflower

1 stick of butter or 1/2 cup

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

onion (about 2 thin slices chopped up or how much you like)

frozen bell pepper strips (about 2 handfuls cut up or how many you like)

2 minced garlic cloves or garlic powder to taste (maybe 1/4 tsp)

3 cups frozen broccoli florets 

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

4 sausage links

4 slices canadian bacon

4 eggs

2 cups shredded cheese

salt 

black pepper

red pepper

red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 450

Pour bag of riced cauliflower in an 8x8 glass pan. Put in 1 slice of cut up onion and cut up bell peppers and 2 cloves minced garlic. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Melt 1/4 cup or half of the stick of butter and pour over cauliflower. Mix well. Put in oven at 450 for 30 minutes. 

While cauliflower is baking fry up sausage links. In a separate fry pan saute 1 slice onion, mushrooms and canadian bacon in 1/2 stick of butter. Steam broccoli until just soft as it will cook some more in the oven. 

Whisk together 4 eggs and 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream. Sprinkle on red pepper and some red pepper flakes if you like things a little spicy otherwise you can just use salt and pepper to taste. 

Add the sausage, sauteed mixture and broccoli to the eggs and about 2 cups of shredded cheese. Mix together well. 

Pull cauliflower out of oven when done and turn oven to 350. Pour egg mixture over cauliflower and mix well. Place back in the oven at 350 for 30 more minutes. 

Pull out of oven and let set for about 5 minutes. 

Serves 6 people

Remember you can make this recipe your own so add whatever spices your family likes. Don't like sausage but in bacon instead. I just happened to have these ingredients in my house and threw them all together. 

Also, I am not sure of the exact carb count because I don't really count them. I just cut back on them. I have been trying to figure out a way to get high fiber veggies in every meal and so I am excited about having this for breakfast. Cauliflower is very low in carbs. Be careful on the onions and mushrooms if you are really watching carbs. If I had to guess on a carb count I would say maybe 5 carbs net because the peppers, cauliflower and broccoli all are a good source of fiber. 

Book Giveaway

Win a copy of Natasha and the Christmas Wish!

No Purchase Necessary/US Residents Only

3 ways to enter

1. Share this post publicly for one chance

https://www.facebook.com/NatashaandtheChristmasWish/

2. Like Natasha and the Christmas Wish FB page for one chance

3. View Book Trailer and comment below what your favorite illustration is for one chance (youtube link below)

Contest ends on Natasha's Birthday December 19th at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Winner announced on December 20th. Book will arrive before Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGJZRmCiy2g

To purchase a copy of the book use this Amazon link. It is an affiliate link and does not cost you extra to us but the money earned from it is donated to Downside Up along with proceeds earned by Katrina Morriss on the book.

http://amzn.to/2j1vSIm

From The LifeBeats Project Podcast! Please listen and share!

Have you been waiting and working toward a happy ending that hasn't come yet? 

Katrina Morriss of the blog Operation Orphan No More shares her story of trying to find beauty in the rain while waiting for her rainbow during her 5 year fight to bring home her special needs daughter Natasha from Russia through adoption. 

She tells of the beautiful experience finally visiting her in Russia and of completing all of required paperwork only to be cruelly separated from her due to the Russian ban on adoptions from American families. Katrina has marched on Washington, spoken in front of Congress, been on Russian & American news and documentaries, and has organized letter writing campaigns – all in an effort to not let these children who have been caught in the ban become forgotten. 

She shares how she always has loved happy endings and how she has had to work hard to be happy where she is at even though she has not received the happy ending she was expecting.

She tells of a miracle in which strangers helped transport Christmas gifts from the US all the way to Natasha’s orphanage and how this story has now become a children’s book Natasha and the Christmas Wish. 

Katrina tells why she has now shifted her focus to what she can control, supporting organizations in Russia that provide resources to families with Down Syndrome children, and how this book is doing just that, and that the best way to help orphans is to keep them from becoming orphans in the first place. One of most touching parts of the podcast is when Katrina tells of reading their children’s book to her other daughter Nevaeh who did not understand why this story didn’t have a happy ending either. Katrina teaches her the importance of sad stories getting told and how sad stories have good parts in them too. .

Listen and be inspired to focus on the happy things in your life instead of the unfairness or heartaches in the world, to see what you can do in your circle of influence, and how you are making a difference.

#lifebeatsprojectepisode

To listen click here www.thelifebeatsproject.com/Katrina or search The LifeBeats Project in iTunes, on your podcast app, or Google Play Music.

Natasha and the Christmas Wish Book Trailer

So excited to launch our book trailer.

Please share our story.

Proceeds from the book help Downside Up keep children

with Down syndrome in families instead of ending up in orphanages.

It is one way I could think of to help orphans with Down syndrome,

like my daughter caught in the Russian Adoption Ban.

Natasha and the Christmas Wish

Written by Tammi Croteau with Katrina Morriss, Illustrated by Jason Boucher

View Book Trailer!

To order http://www.tammicroteaukeen.com/product-page/natasha-and-the-christmas-wish

Will be shipped out starting May 1st.

Available in English and Russian, this beautifully illustrated children's book tells the story of Natasha, a little girl with Down Syndrome who lives in an orphanage in Russia, an American family's journey to adopt her and the strangers they now call friends who help get their love to her while they wait.

Your purchase helps to support Downside Up in Russia making it possible for more children with Down syndrome to stay in their families instead of being left in orphanages.

Music by Veronica Torraca-Bragdon. Sheet music available soon. https://www.facebook.com/VTBMusic16/

#NatashaandtheChristmasWish #RussianOrphans #RussianAdoptionBan #Downsyndrome

Natasha and the Christmas Wish

I really am amazed that this dream of mine is coming true. 

I may not be able to get Natasha home right now to love and care for

by I am so excited to have the story of the Christmas Hats

made into a children's book. 

Natasha and the Christmas Wish

Proceeds from the book will be donated to

Downside Up in Russia. 

Downside Up provides resources to families in Eastern Europe

to help them keep their children with Down syndrome 

instead of leaving them to grow up in orphanages. 

I will also save my portion of the proceeds to help

pay for Natasha to live at our orphanage

instead of being transferred to a mental institution 

when she turns 18-years-old. 

Of course, 

my biggest dream would be for someone with the power

to help us bring her home read the book and

provide us with a long awaited miracle. 

It has been almost 5 years since we last saw her 

and if something doesn't change in the next 4 years

she will no longer be allowed to be adopted and come to live with us

according to US laws. 

To find out more about the book please follow our FB page. 

The person who helped me write the book is Tammi Croteau. 

The Illustrator of the amazing artwork is Jay Boucher. 

Todd Civin of Civin Media Relations and Publishing Services agreed to help 

us get the book out,  Alexander Plotkin is translating the book into Russian and

 Veronica Torraca-Bragdon is composing and recording music for an

amazing book trailer to help with sales. 

I am so grateful to the book team for all they have done to 

make this dream come true. 

Please consider ordering a book and sharing our story with others. 

You never know who might have the power to provide us with 

the miracle we are looking for. 

Tammi recently wrote on her blog about our story. 

"...when I first read Katrina Morriss' Facebook posts about an adorable little girl stuck in an orphanage in Russia because of a political ban on adoptions by Americans, it struck a chord in me. I'm no stranger to the heartbreak of a failed attempt to adopt, but for Katrina and her husband, the fight to bring Natasha home has been going on every day for the past five years. Her story speaks straight to the heart of everyone who has ever longed to be a parent, or bonded with a child. Natasha is Katrina's child, regardless of who gave birth to her, or where she resides, or even what the law says is currently possible. There's a hope and faith and ferocity in this mother's love that sees an obstacle and instantly takes action to overcome it."

"Though I can't change the laws and fulfill Katrina's desire to bring her little girl home, I could offer up the words to help her tell her story and share some of the gratitude (yes, gratitude) that she feels toward the countless strangers, both American and Russian, who have stepped forward to help her maintain contact, send gifts, and improve the quality of life for orphans with Down syndrome like Natasha."

Pre-order Natasha and the Christmas Wish by clicking here. Orders will ship out by May 1st! You may order the book in English or Russia or both if you like. 

When ordering multiple orders just use the coupon codes......2for26, 3for39, or 4for50 (in any combination of English and Russian versions). A single copy is $14.

Christmas Gifts For Natasha

I realize I have neglected this blog.....a lot!

I spend time on FB and do post things there but usually forget about my sad little blog. 

I am going to try to be better to share the updates I get about Natasha here. 

I was able to send her Birthday/Christmas Presents again in December

and I have photos from the very sweet people that delivered them for me. 

I will also include a sweet short dance video of Natasha and some of the 

other girls in her orphanage. 

Prepare for photo overload because I don't feel like deciding which ones are the best

and should be shared. 

 Quick story about her outfit and the little doll. 

I purchased them but then decided it would cost more to ship them to my friend

in Maryland than it would for her to just go to Walmart and pick something out for me.

But standing in line in Walmart I had a meltdown and just couldn't take the gifts I had picked

out myself back. 

So I ended up paying more to overnight the package than it did to actually purchase

the outfit and the little doll. 

But in my mind I could picture Natasha lovingly taking the little pacifier and

putting it in and out of the doll's mouth.  

Well, in the pictures below I have exactly what I imagined and am so glad I 

decided to send my handpicked items instead of just having my friend pick something out.

Also, the sweater dress I sent had black leggins with it. 

I guess leggins aren't big in Russia because they didn't put those on her

making her dress look really, really short. 

Oh well. I will remember no leggins next time and am just so grateful 

for the sweet friends who get my gifts to Natasha every year 

and for the wonderful photos I get of her as I watch her grow up 

healthy and happy. 

And here is the most adorable dance video ever.
The girls all did an amazing job
and my heart is so grateful to all the wonderful orphanage
caregivers who love and care for the children. 

On one final note I have some very exciting news!

The story about Natasha and the Christmas Hats is finally 

going to be a Children's Book and should be

finished by the first of April!!!!

For my next blog post I will share more about the book 

and the amazing illustrations that are included in it. 

So stay tuned..........

Children of the State Free to view on Youtube for limited time

The complete documentary Children of the State can be viewed by clicking on this link http://bit.ly/2hZ8Jjj and is only available for free on youtube until midnight December 19, 2016 PST or it can be seen in Russian only with no English Subtitles here  

Please share this short video clip below and post asking President-elect Trump to make bringing the orphans caught in the Russian Adoption Ban home a top priority. They have been waiting over 4 years. Information can be found at Parents United for Russian Orphans on how to help by writing your local congressman.

#PleaseTrumpUsAMiracle #RussianAdoptionBan

Dear President-elect Trump,

In December 2012, the Russian Government signed a law banning all Americans from adopting Russian children in response to a law the US Government signed called The Magnitsky Act. When the law passed, over 300 children who had met their potential families were left orphans once again. One of these children is Natasha, who will turn 11 on December 19th. She was only 6 years old when she met her American family and has lived 4 additional years in an orphanage because of the ban.

Since the ban Katrina Morriss has worked ceaselessly with other parents in the same situation to find a way for their intended children to come home either to America or to adoptive families in Russia.

Please help to finally make their dreams come true by negotiating with President Putin to make finalizing the adoptions of the orphans stuck in the Russian Adoption Ban a top priority.

Sincerely,

Parents United for Russian Orphans