Sometimes, You Need to Sit Down to Eat

Mornings are busy. I'm sure there isn't one among you who feels differently. If you're working, getting kids to school or going to appointments, you might find taking the time to eat breakfast yourself takes a back seat. I was reminded of the importance of this the other day, though when in my morning rush, I finally stopped to savor the moment.

I always eat breakfast because I know how important it is and because I want to set that kind of example for H & P. During the week, I eat standing up. I get H & P's food first, sit them at the table and then go about doing a million "important" things. Dishes are always bugging me so I'm usually washing them while they eat. I might be also preparing Heidi's lunch for "school" and I'm probably not dressed yet. I need to change Piper's diaper, make the beds and make sure I have all the right books and notes I need. If I'm working, I'm making sure that lunch is available for them along with snacks, diapers are all set out and everything is relatively clean. All of these things take up so much time and I'm working at them with children hanging all over me saying "Pick?! Pick?!"

The other day was different. Heidi barely touched her breakfast and while Piper ate more of hers, I wasn't satisfied. I actually got to sit down in my chair to eat mine, but they had been long gone from the table by then. I decided I wanted Heidi to eat so I went over to her chair, sat down, put her on my lap and fed her. And she ate.

She ate because I was actually present with her instead of washing the "important" dishes. She ate because I was taking the time to feed her, hold her on my lap and let her know that it was important for her to eat. Most importantly was just that I took the time.

I've been letting other things get in the way of spending real time with my children in the morning. That is not to say that I do not spend any time with them at all and in fact, I habitually drop things that I'm doing to go and just sit with them on the couch for a few minutes. But since I value breakfast so much, I need to make more of an effort to make it a meal.

Every other meal we eat, we all sit down at the table, without fail. Breakfast should not be an exception. Dishes can wait. Clothing can *sort of* wait. They can't. They are watching me every moment, using me as a gauge for their own future behavior and this is not something I want them to repeat.

I had my reality check the other day and I'm listening. If nothing else, I will eat three meals a day, at a table, with my children.

This Is What My Week Looks Like

Please bear with me....

Monday
8-9 am: I teach class #1.
Afternoon time: My mother arrives.

Tuesday
8 am: Drop Heidi off at preschool.
8-10 am: Prepping for class/office hours.
10-11:30 am: Teach class #2
12:30 pm: Pick Heidi up from preschool.

Wednesday
8-9 am: Teach class #1.
10-1:30 pm: Work my other part-time gig.

Thursday
8 am: Drop Heidi off.
8-10 am: Class prep/office hours.
10-11:30 am: Teach that second class.
12:30 pm: Retrieve Heidi.
Afternoon: My mother leaves

Friday
8-9 am: Teach 1st class again

Saturday/Sunday
Working that other part-time gig if I'm not traveling.

In other words, my free time has gone from "minimal" to "bare minimal," which would explain my lack in all things that are not class/child related. Just know that I'm still here and will be bringing you the best of the best as soon as...umm...what was I doing again?

:)

What I See for Myself in 2012

In lieu of resolutions, I've decided to create a list of visions of what I see for myself in this new year. This is not a "want" list because I do not like to surround myself with those types of feelings, but rather it is a list of things I would like to have in my life and I intend to visualize them with me. I would love to hear a similar list from all of you.

In short, this is what I see for myself in 2012:

A cupboard full of tea: I greatly enjoy drinking tea and though you may think I only drink peppermint (this is moderately true), I do occasionally like other flavors. I would like to have a huge variety of tea available for myself and for any visitors that I may have. Lots of tea = lots of happy people.

A second freezer: I've wanted another freezer for over a year, ever since we moved and left our previous second freezer behind. I keep visualizing myself putting batches of muffins, vegetable stock, breads, berries, farmers market vegetables and more into a lovely second freezer.

Prosperity: I love this term because it can represent monetary prosperity, but it also means so, so much more. I see an exorbitant amount of prosperity for myself this year, in as many ways as it can manifest (and I see the same for you!).

Happiness: I'm sure I don't know anyone who doesn't want to be happy, so I suppose this is sort of a given. Nevertheless, I'm seeing myself happy for the entire year.

A garden: I'm really debating on whether or not I want to even attempt to create a garden this year since the last year just wasn't productive in the slightest, but I'm leaving it up to Divine Order. I see a plentiful garden of unsurpassed bounty from which I can freeze and feed the masses. Or my children.

Do tell me what you see for yourself in this new year.

December

The month of December is upon us and with it, a whole hoopla of stuff to do. In other words....

I'm taking the month off from blogging.

Shocking, I know, since I've been blogging like every day for the past two months...*snark*

I have plenty of reasons for doing this, but at the top of my list are:
1. Making Christmas presents: I will probably be hand making everything I give (and if not, *almost* everything), so I need some time to do that, especially considering that a certain someone has a birthday at the beginning of the month as well.

2. I need to prepare for my class: I'm teaching in January and with all these gifts I'm making, I probably won't have a lot of time left for preparations. I need to devote whatever time I have to reading, composing a syllabus and doing some sort of math to make grades for these people. I hope they like it.

I will probably resume gratitude posts on Christmas weekend, since my gifts *should* be made by then (!!!!), but if I don't, know that they will certainly return by the new year.

I appreciate your understanding in this matter (cause of course this is a formal business letter) and I wish you all the happiest and best holiday season filled with gratitude and joy. :)

How to Eat Vegetables That You Don't Like

Having recently become a vegetarian, you might be surprised to learn that I don't like every vegetable in existence. In fact, I dislike many of them. With great intensity. However, I am always trying to set a good example for everyone so I think it's important for me to eat as many different vegetables as possible to get all the benefits I can. Not only that, but certain things I don't like *cough cough squash cough cough* is extraordinarily cheap at the farmers market and is readily available, which means I should do my best to find a way to get it in my food to save money and help my body at the same time. So, here are my tricks to tricking myself into eating vegetables I don't like.

Dice it: If you chop it up into really tiny pieces, you might not even notice it's there! This works particularly well in dishes with broth, like soup or a pot pie, where the vegetable can sort of hide in the undercurrent and its flavor is overpowered by everything else in the dish. If you dice it small enough, it might even 'disappear' completely into your creation and you'll forget it's there. That works too.

These are vegetables I DO like.

Shred it: I don't like zucchini, but it's cheap and it's a vegetable. Therefore, I decided to incorporate it into my life. I have found that shredding it and putting it into whatever I'm making is a great way of hiding it for myself. Usually, I shred it and throw it in a stir fry (for myself) or I shred it and saute it with garlic and olive oil and make it into a frittata for Heidi and Piper. Granted, I also don't eat eggs like that, so I'm not enjoying my creation, but I know they're getting an extra serving of vegetables in the morning every other day.

Puree it: I don't like squash. It is also a relatively easy to find vegetable and isn't $100 million (most days) so I try to buy it and do something with it when I can. Up until now, I have not been eating it myself, save for the occasional spaghetti squash replacing spaghetti. Heidi and Piper will eat a roasted butternut or acorn squash straight out of the oven, but if I want to get the nutrients from this spiffy vegetable, I have to transform it. I'm still proud of myself for coming up with the idea of pureeing the roasted butternut squash with some vegetable stock and then dumping that bad boy right into the soup I was creating that day. It gave the broth a little bit of an interesting color and was completely undetectable during ingestion. Brilliant.

Dissolve it: Though I've only done it a couple times, I would like to make it more of a habit because I know how good this particular food is for all of us. Avocado. Blech. Gross. Vomit. But yet, when I dissolve it in vinegar, treating it like plain yogurt or mayonnaise that would go into the dressing of a cole slaw, I can eat it on my salad. So vinegar, some avocado, Bragg's, olive oil and onion powder create a nice, tasty salad dressing where I can almost ignore the fact that the avocado is in there. (Thanks to Steve's friend Jason who taught me this trick and doesn't know that I've used it.)

So when in doubt, throw the offending vegetable into a soup, pasta sauce, put it on a pizza or puree it to smithereens. You'll be eating veggies you don't like in no time.

The End: 40 Days of Homemade Food

I know I totally slacked on this post, but I'm sure you didn't miss it...until now!

I really don't have anything Earth-changing, spectacular or miraculous to say about our Lenten challenge to eat only at home. While we did basically complete this challenge, we did end up ordering pizza more than I would have liked to and having fast-food (mostly chik-fil-a, which is thought to be the best fast food restaurant) also much more than I would like to. Of course, I journeyed to NY to visit my mother, so I am quite unsure of what Steve did during that time. :)

I will say that this was not as difficult as I thought it might be, which may be partially due to the fact that I cook at home almost every day anyway, but when you know you cannot eat out, you tend to throw things together to eat fairly quick. Even when I was so tired I didn't want to move, I still had to make dinner and I did. I often think about women who were housewives in the '50's or earlier who literally had no choice but to make three meals a day, sometimes with multiple courses, to please their husbands. I wonder how they managed to pull that off while still keeping the house clean and taking care of children and then wash most of their dishes by hand and do a lot of laundry by hand. Ugh, it makes me want to take a nap just thinking about it.

Some how, we all get through each day and still have the will to do it all over again tomorrow. I think making all meals at home really isn't out of anyone's league and is probably a lot more feasible than you think. It doesn't always have to be fancy and doesn't have to make sense. It's food. We need it to survive. We're going to chew it up and digest it anyway so relax a little. There's plenty of room for fancy, put together dinners, but if you do that a couple of times a week, feel free to throw random things together and call it a meal on the other days without any guilt. The point is, you're eating at home, you're eating together as a family and you're eating whole, real foods rather than buying something someone else made that came from who-knows-where.

On that note, here is a recipe for something I made the other day that I found completely tasty.

2 cups cooked brown rice
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 onion, sliced
2-3 cloves garlic, sliced
1 green onion, sliced
1 can tomato sauce
2 handfuls of mushrooms, chopped
1 handful of spinach (or however much fits in the pan), chopped a bit
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Basil
Onion Powder
Garlic Powder

1. I sauteed the onion and garlic in coconut oil, added the mushrooms and the green onion (this is because I forgot I had both of those in my fridge and added them last minute).
2. Add beans and tomato sauce, stir and bring to boil. Throw in spinach, reduce heat to low and allow spinach to wilt.
3. What's that? I forgot to season? Yeah, you bet I did! I took the girls outside and when I came back (this had been sitting on low for about 20-30 minutes), I added all the seasonings above. Serve over brown rice.

Ithaca Finds

While visiting my mother outside of Ithaca, NY, I was able to get a number of fantastic things. First up, at Mama Goose, I got all of this stuff for free! What? Yes! I was able to sell some older clothes and things to them and I took store credit in return, allowing me to walk out with some new things for Heidi. Plus, I still have a little left over for whenever I get up there again (or if my mother wants to use it), which always makes me happy. I'm cheap so spending as little as I possibly can on anything I buy is my main goal.

If you are ever in the Ithaca area, I would definitely recommend going there if you have children or are pregnant. They carry both used and new items and everything is usually in really good condition. It's also a really great store for grandparents to go because everything is really cheap and they can go crazy buying nice clothes for their little ones. Example A: My mother purchased 2 dresses and 2 skirts (one each) for Heidi and Piper because they were there.

I was also lucky enough to get to the Ithaca Farmer's Market, a place that has no equal for me yet, and I purchased some awesome blue/purple potatoes to have for Easter dinner. Naturally, there was really minimal stuff at the time I went there (plus we also go there right before they were closing), but I still enjoyed seeing all the evidence of people who truly care for nature and natural living. It annoys me, though, that this farmer's market opened in the beginning of April, yet I cannot seem to find one around me that opens before the end of May and where I live is 10 degrees warmer!

Finally, I visited Jillian's Drawers. I cannot emphasize their awesomeness enough. They are awesome! They have everything: cloth diapers, maternity/nursing wear, quality toys, locally made goods, shoes, slings and carriers, strollers, you name it! Everyone on their staff is equally as amazing, warm and informative, always friendly and willing to help. They have a common room in the store that is used by various groups for meetings about breastfeeding, PPD and even toddler music groups. The employees will often have their children in the store with them and they are also paid a living wage! Even though I hate spending money, I am always proud to give them some because it goes to working mothers who are treated really, really well. Here's what I got:
 
 I bought a Prorap cover and a Thirsties Duo cover (both used), two locally made mama pads, a set of cutlery for Heidi made from corn or something (I threw the packaging away), a set of spoons for Piper (BPA free) and some more mama pads from Imse Vimse. I was pleasantly surprised by these because I thought there were two in the package but there were three! Once I use them, I will certainly let you know how they work out.




If you ever have the chance to go on vacation to the Ithaca area, I think you will be extremely pleased with what you find. The whole area is very child-centered, Earth-conscious and fun-loving so you will not have a problem finding something to do that fits your lifestyle. Baby wearing and NIP is the norm, as is Organic goods. And they have waterfalls. You can't miss!

Guest Post at Mama Eve

Today I am fortunate enough to have a guest post over at Mama Eve about my first experience with breastfeeding. Check it out if you have time and do look at the rest of her blog because it is absolutely wonderful!

Travel

Heidi loves riding the tractor with my mother!

Beginning Friday 8 April, I will be journeying to my mother's home in NY. As a result of this journey, my blog posts may be fewer and far between. Please don't fret; I will return to the groove eventually, hopefully with lots of new and exciting information for you, not to mention the creative writing for Hoffman Week.

Do feel jealous, however, because I will be visiting the fabulous Jillian's Drawers and Mama Goose while in town, the latter of which will likely be providing H & P's spring/summer wardrobe. Can't wait to tell you what I find/do!

My mother's front porch last October (first snow sighting!)

Favorites

If you enjoy reading interesting, informative blog posts, generally related to natural parenting, this list is for you! Several of the fabulous women who "work" at Natural Parents Network have listed their favorite posts here for your perusing pleasure. After you finish reading, don't forget to check out the rest of the blog and comment if you like what you see. :)

• Fine and Fair - An Unusual Gripe with Bebe Gloton 
• Innate Wholeness - Top Ten Ways to Be Present with Family 
• I Thought I Knew Mama - Sound Bites from a Miscarriage Journey
• Pineapples and Artichokes - Let's Talk About Diversity
• Hybrid Rasta Mama - The OK Phenomena
• The New Mommy Files: Memories, Milestones and Missteps - The Case for Instinctual Mothering
• Mama Eve - Sleep, Crying, and Balancing Closeness with Boundaries
• The ArtsyMama - Ten Things I Wish I Knew Before Little Man
• Intrepid Murmurings - Babywearing Twins: Tips and Tricks for Babywearing Two
• A Little Bit of All of It - How Motherhood Came to Me
• Embrita Blogging - 10 Things That Make Me Happy
• Hobo Mama - Postpartum sex vs. sex before kids
• Anktangle - Tea Time - As part of an ongoing series about balance, Amy writes about a daily ritual she has adopted to help her maintain balance in her life.
  
  
   

I Keep Forgetting About This

If you missed me posting a link to my "Wiggle Worm" post on Knickernappies, go check it out. It is a purely satirical piece and I hope it made a lot of people laugh. :)

Ingredients

Here is my rant for the week. Or perhaps century.

I implore you, beg you and simply ask you to read the ingredients on everything that you buy. As it was put somewhere recently (I do not recall the source) "Read ingredients like your life depends on it, because it does."

Here is one example. Today I was shopping for a few things at Wegmans and I like cheap things so when I saw a bunch of $0.39 cans of vegetables, my interest was immediately peeked. I wanted to purchase some corn for that evening's dinner and as luck would have it, whole corn in a can was before my eyes for only pennies! For some reason, I chose to read the ingredients, which seems so silly when the label says "Whole Corn," right? I'm immensely glad I turned the can because among the corn, water and salt there was something else: sugar. Now, can anyone tell me what the logical reason is behind putting sugar in a can of corn? Does it help the corn stay "sweet?" Does it keep it from getting too yellow? Is it a new fangled preservative? I don't know about you, but when I eat a fresh ear of corn, I don't normally reach for the bowl of sugar and slop it all over the kernels. If I had not had that momentary insight to turn the can around and read it, I could have unintentionally been adding some amount of sugar to an otherwise non-sugary meal. Gross.

Another similar example comes from Wal-Mart. I used to buy my beans there because they were the cheapest around (in canned form) so I would stock up whenever I went there. It never would have occurred to me to read the ingredients of a can of beans because like a can of corn, what else could you possibly need in there? One day, at home, we decided to read the label and what did I find? High fructose corn syrup! What is THAT doing in a can of beans?! When did it become acceptable for companies to add non-essential ingredients to our food?

Before I go on, I must make it very clear that I'm not perfect (I know, right?) Obviously, I let those HFCS riddled beans come into my home in the first place because I did not take the time to read the label. But, I am actively working at being a better consumer. I now even read labels of items I have previously purchased, just to make sure the ingredients haven't changed. (One such product is the Cascadian Farm Purely O's cereal.As I remember it, they used to be called "Simply O's" and did not include any form of sweetener on their ingredient panel. I remember this because this is the first O shaped cereal I purchased for Heidi to eat during the time when I was not giving her any added sugar in her diet. When I went to get this product for Piper, I was very surprised to see the change in ingredients.)

The point is, advertisers and companies don't want you to read the labels of their products because then you might not actually buy them. They want to keep you as focused on the front of the box/can/package as they possibly can so that you falsely believe that what is pictured on the item is what's actually in it. Please put on your thinking caps when you enter the grocery store. Teach your children the importance of reading labels. You can probably make a game out of finding the product with the least number of ingredients! When in doubt, remember this: Buy ingredients, not the finished product.

Things I Always Keep On Hand

For those of you wondering how I generally manage to get by on around $300 per month for food, I decided to put together a list of what I always have in my house (food related) to better illustrate how I am able to accomplish this feat. Feel free to tell me what I'm missing!

Pantry

• Beans: I generally keep cans of black, kidney, and cannolini beans at all times, but I also use pinto beans on occasion. Lately I've been buying beans at Whole Foods because they are fairly cheap and contain the fewest ingredients of all brands of canned beans. If I'm running low, I allot myself $5 to stock up, but on most shopping trips, I will buy one or two cans anyway.
• Lentils: Currently I have some red lentils, regular brown ones (or whatever they are) and some French ones that I mixed in with the 'regular' ones at Whole Foods. Since I found out that lentils really make Piper's bowels move (and I know you wanted to know that), I've always kept them in the cupboard. 
• Rice: Right now, I have white, brown, arborio and two wild rice mixes in my cupboard. I'm trying to use less white rice and more brown so I've been buying it from the bulk bins at Whole Foods every time I go to fill up my rice container. If you read my previous post about Near East's Original Rice Pilaf, you have probably also gathered that I keep this in my house too. This is true, however, I will only buy it if it is around $2 or less. Thus, I do not always have it. But I find that keeping both the original and the Spanish rice varieties on hand can really help me in a pinch.
• Pasta: I love starch. I try to keep just about every type/shape of pasta in the house because I'm a fan of variety. My favorites are angel hair and orzo and I love ditalini for making pasta fagioli. I also try not to spend more than $1 on pasta, which presents a problem when looking for healthier varieties. Unfortunately, Steve generally refuses to eat any pasta that even resembles whole wheat or similar, so I am left with looking for those with the fewest ingredients. There is a store near me that carries Polish products and their imported pastas have 3 ingredients and cost only $.99. 
• Tomato Sauce: And by that I mean the 8 oz cans. The versatility of these wonderful cans of tomato goodness literally boggle my mind. I use them all the time and as an added bonus, they're cheap! I usually buy at least four when I go to the store, more if I'm running low. They're a great addition to soups, beans and can help turn plain ground beef into sloppy joes. 
• Diced Tomatoes (canned): For the same reason as the tomato sauce, I like to keep at least a few of these around because I never know when I might need them. Add a can to soups, sautes or whatever you fancy.
• Tomato Paste: It comes in handy more often than you'd think!
• Pasta Sauce: I have not perfected the act of making my own sauce and even if I had, I wouldn't have anywhere to store it. Thus, I always pick up two or three jars of various types of Classico sauce because they are one of the most inexpensive brands that does not include a lot of crap in their sauce. Also to note here is that I will not buy any product (specifically of the canned tomato variety) that adds sugar where it is not needed. Some of Classico's sauces do not have sugar, but some do so I only buy those that don't.   
• Broths: While I do like to make my own vegetable stock, I do not have the space to keep infinite amounts of it in my freezer (nor do I always have it on hand). Plus, sometimes you do need a chicken broth/stock or a beef one and I do not often have the chance to make those. Instead, when they're on sale, I buy the best broths/stocks I can so that I always have them in a pinch for whatever I might need. Granted, I do also use water to help my stock go a little further, but I think stock/broth generally gives a better flavor. 
• Baking Supplies: Since there are so many and they vary by household, I decided to lump them together rather than make this post twenty pages long. I usually try to keep two kinds of flour (regular and whole wheat), many different spices, extracts, sugars and baking powder, soda and shortening. 
• Quinoa: Recently I made some chocolate cupcakes with this fabulous grain and I think they were fantastic! I like to have this to put into soups, mostly, but I also mix it with lentils to make a protein powerhouse. I don't really use it that much in other respects, but I hope to start. 
• Bulgar Wheat: This is another ingredient I like to put into soups to thicken it up a bit and add some extra nutrients. Also something I don't do much with, but I like having it because I never know when I'll find a great new recipe to try.
• Barley: I still have more barley than I'll ever know what to do with, but that means I'm always prepared. One recipe in particular that I enjoy barley in is this one I posted not long ago for Chicken Pot Pie.
• Pancake Mix: Call me lazy, but I don't always get the chance to make pancakes from scratch. I actually did it once, but I find this mix to be infinitely easier and quicker, especially when I have two hungry children crying for pancakes. I've tried a couple different ones, but I think the one we liked the best was Arrowhead Mills' pancake mix (the site won't work right now, but I'm pretty sure it was the buckwheat one). Right now we're using Bob's Red Mill Pancake Mix (I think it's this one) and I just don't find it to be as good.
• Salsa: I never thought this would be a staple in my life, but it has become very important to me (sounds like I'm talking about my children!) I LOVE salsa on baked potatoes (sometimes with butter, sometimes without) and having it around means I can always whip up a nice black bean dish and some homemade tortillas and have a nice Mexican dinner. Mmm...is it dinner time yet?

Freezer

• Peas: I don't like peas, but both Heidi and Piper love them and eat them plain, even straight out of the fridge. I usually have two bags at any given time because in a pinch, I can boil them quickly and give them as a snack or a veggie addition to any meal.
• Green Beans: Green beans are one of my favorite vegetables and I like to throw them in wherever I can. Both girls also enjoy eating them plain so I will often combine them with the peas. At Wegmans, I can get large bags of both 'cut' and 'french style' for $.99 so I stock up on them whenever I have room in my freezer.
• Waffles: I know they're not the best food to eat, but I don't think they're the worst either. At Sam's Club, I can get a box of 60 Eggo waffles that lasts me a few weeks considering I eat a peanut butter and jelly waffle sandwich every day for breakfast. On occasion, I also give Heidi and now Piper a waffle for breakfast on days I don't feel like doing much.
• Tilapia: Another Sam's Club staple, I enjoy having their industrial size bag in my freezer for those days when I want a really easy, totally oven based meal. Tilapia is an extremely versatile fish because of its light flavor, so it can really go with just about any seasoning and side dishes.

Fridge

• Eggs: Now that Piper is over age 1, we go through four eggs every other day. Heidi has been eating two eggs (scrambled) for a long time and now Piper has joined her so in order to keep my shopping trips to a minimal, I often buy two dozen eggs at a time. Of course, I also use them for baking and other things, so it's probably time for us to consider owning some chickens.
• Butter (Salted and Unsalted): Eh, you know what this is for...artichoke sauce!
• Bragg's Liquid Aminos: Obviously I always have this. To read why, click here.
• Lemons: I tend to put lemon on almost every vegetable, along with Bragg's and onion powder. Besides that, it has a lot of other uses, even for cleaning. Plus it smells nice. 
• Yogurt: Heidi eats yogurt about every other day, but I stopped buying flavored yogurt several months ago. Instead, I buy plain organic yogurt and put honey and vanilla into it and she gobbles it down.
• Salad: Sometimes, there's nothing better than a nice fresh salad with some tasty dressing to please the palate. Lately I've taken to buying romaine hearts at Whole Foods because they are organic and only cost $2.49, which is really good compared to organic romaine at other stores. I also hit the organic field mix bin at Wegmans whenever it's around because I can usually get enough for two salads (for all four of us) for under $2, but it doesn't keep as well as the romaine. Of course in the summer time I grow my own so this is not necessary.

Counter


Since I do not have infinite pantry space, my counter picks up the slack. These are the items I just don't have room for anywhere else.

• Onions: I could not live without onions. I use them in practically every dish I make so not having them literally causes me to scratch my head wondering what I could possibly make. I usually buy another bag when I have one or two onions left because I am that anal. 
• Garlic: Much like onions, I try to use garlic all the time. It has many health benefits, plus everything tastes better with it anyway :)
• Potatoes: The potato is such a versatile vegetable, healthy and tasty it is another one of my absolute staples. When I'm all out of ideas, I make roasted potatoes as an easy side dish for dinner using olive oil and rosemary garlic seasoning. Mmmmm.
• Apples: I try to give Heidi and Piper fruit at every meal, or at least two out of three (and sometimes in between), and apples are a great option because they keep for a reasonably long time and can be used for so many things. I usually shred one apple into my muffin mixes, regardless of type, I bake them with cinnamon or I make 'apple snow' (plain shredded apple, sometimes topped with cinnamon, specifically for those who do not chew as well).
• Bananas: I keep meaning to keep track of how many pounds of bananas we go through in a month or in a week, but I always forget. Let's just say, it's a lot. There was a time when Heidi would eat two bananas a day, every day for a solid two or three months (she must have needed potassium!). Bananas are a great snack and an all around great fruit to have on hand because they help regulate blood sugar levels and also help you sleep. Plus they're cheap and it is not necessary to buy them organic, so I can get them just about anywhere. (Just a side note, Sam's Club specifically advertises their bananas as 'Free Trade,' but I have not seen many other places besides Whole Foods do the same.)
• Olive Oil: I use olive oil almost as much as I use onions and garlic, especially since I make my own salad dressing, which I will post about sooner or later. We buy two different types: the light olive oil for sauteing and salad dressings and the regular for just about anything else. 

I'm 99% sure that this includes everything, short of every random condiment I have in my fridge that you don't need to know about. As I said above, if there's something that you have that I don't, or you think would make my life easier, please share! I'm always looking for new, nutritious foods to feed my children. :)

Meh...I bought Some Cascade

This is a follow up post to 'Try it in Your Dishwasher,' so if you haven't yet read that, click here.


Yes, I caved in and bought some cascade. I know I should wash my pots and pans by hand, but I hate the idea of slaving away over the sink when I could be doing something else more important. Thus, I throw everything that isn't wooden into the dishwasher.

The homemade detergent did a find job on regular dishes (plates, cups, bowls, most silverware) but really failed to get any of my stainless steel clean. I tried adding some kosher salt to the mix (as an abrasive, a tip I found somewhere), but that did not make much difference. Maybe I should have tried using less of the detergent, something I may try in the future, but for now I want to keep things rolling smoothly. Washing something twice is certainly not economical and I prefer to use the dishwasher because I know it is more efficient than I could ever be.

On a brighter note, I decided to use the mixture I have left as a 'dishwasher boost.' Both of the ingredients in the homemade detergent are laundry boosters, so why couldn't they boost the power of dish washing detergent as well? And if THAT doesn't work, well, I'll just have to eat it. :)

Tofu!

Tonight I made a simple stir-fry using tofu I marinated in low-sodium soy sauce, garlic, onions, celery and the remainder of my frozen bag of pepper stir-fry. Piper ate all the tofu and left most of the other things on her plate while Heidi ate a bit of everything but stopped eating once she realized how amused Piper was by her spitting food out of her mouth. Awesome.

Balance

As I stated in a previous post, I like to balance our meals over the course of a week so that we don't have too many heavy ones in a row, nor too many light. Since last night's meal was a bit more heavy, I knew I wanted to base tonight's dinner on vegetables. I also like to rotate pasta, potatoes and rice around so we're not having the same starch several days in a row (I love my starch!) so that is how I landed on tonight's hodge-podge-esque dinner.

I've been wanting baked potatoes for a few days now, so I cut a bunch of them in half and stuck them in the oven at 350. I also wanted to roast some brussels sprouts so I threw them in too. You can roast at any temperature, but the lower it is, the longer your roasting time, obviously. Since I figured that Heidi and Piper would not be interested in the brussels sprouts, I steamed the remaining green beans I had leftover from the Shepherd's Pie for them. Interestingly enough, they both found the crunchy leaves of the brussels sprouts to be good enough to eat. Then I knew we needed some sort of protein, so I made lentils. I didn't have any broth so I just used water and I have to say, it wasn't my best work. Piper enjoyed them though :). Plus I made too much, so it looks like I'll be eating lentils with potatoes and brussels sprouts for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. :)

Tonight Was Boring

Every so often, we fall into one of those days where cooking just isn't an option. However, since we are working towards a goal during this Lenten season, not cooking was not an option. Instead, I gave Heidi and Piper what I call a hodgepodge dinner (because I do this often) including turkey, brown rice and sugar snap peas. Later on, Steve and I had grilled wings and french fries because we are so healthy. Sometimes, you just have to go the easy route with food because so much else in life is terribly complicated and draining.

If you are interested in how Steve prepares our grilled wings, take note. While on the grill, Steve bastes the wings twice with wing sauce. Then, once they are off the grill, they get tossed in the remaining sauce. To make the sauce, Steve buys a large bottle of Frank's Red Hot and throws several spoonfuls of minced garlic into it to marinate. When he's ready to make the sauce for the wings, he simply pours a lot into a bowl and adds butter. If you want to fry your lips off, add a squeeze of lemon juice into the sauce and it will burn like mad. I, however, like to have taste buds after eating my wings so I prefer it sans lemon.

40 Days of Homemade (Food)

Several weeks ago, I made a proposal to my husband that during Lent, we eat every meal at home, aka homemade goodness. Of course, he would not come home from work to eat lunch here but rather take his lunch with him every day and not purchase it from some cheap crappy place. At first, he nixed the idea citing how he couldn't live without Chinese food or something. Later, I revisited the idea and told him I would accept his compromise if it meant that we would up the number of homemade meals we consume.

So, starting tomorrow, I will be cooking 3 times a day, 7 days a week. Oh wait, don't I do that now as it is? The unfortunate answer is no, not really. While I do cook almost all of our meals, we eat from restaurants far more often than I'd like. Specifically, Steve eats from restaurants far more often than I'd like. I am hoping that limiting "outside" food will help all of us in one way or another, forcing me to try new recipes and think outside my comfort zone and helping Steve see that it is possible to enjoy food that wasn't 'manufactured.'

Steve also surprised me by adding an addendum to this Lenten offering, vowing to drink only water the entire time. This means no soda, juice, Dunkin Donuts iced coffee (gasp!) or honest tea. Though he has allotted for 4 slip-ups where he will consume honest tea and I'm OK with that. All in all, I'm looking forward to proving that this is possible for us and it could make us a better family. Now if we could only get rid of the TV....

Another One

Click here to see my latest post for Knickernappies.

My Dilemma

I'm hoping you can help me with my dilemma. It's very important to me and I'm just not sure what I should do, so read on if you will.

As you may know, we are currently renting. We do not have a large patio area and I'm not one hundred percent sure that I can put raised beds on it, but I'm going to check with the office. Yardley has a community garden not too far from here where I can get a plot, but the size is not guaranteed because it depends on how many people are interested. The plot costs anywhere from $15 - $25 and there's a refundable $10 deposit for cleaning up at the end of the year. I'd also have to put in 10 volunteer hours over the course of the summer (not a big deal) and attend three of the gardening workshops they offer (also not too big of a deal though I'd have kids in tow.)

So this is my problem: Is it economically worth it to "purchase" a plot in the community garden to grow some food or should I just grow some things here for free (assuming that I can)? If I add up the cost of the plot, plus the gas getting there (again, it's not far, but it will still add up), plus the cost of the seeds and other supplies, will I save that much money by gardening myself? I'm still unsure of what I want to grow as I have limited space here to keep things. I'd definitely like to do lettuce, maybe some pepper plants and a couple cucumber plants (which would have to grow on a trellis because of limited space no matter what), but I'm not sure what else. I can't do potatoes really because I have no where to store them. I was thinking about having one tomato plant since I'm the only one that eats them and I'd like to do some herbs too so I can dry them.

What should I do? Spend money on the community garden or spend money here, investing in a garden bed that could be used again?