Gourmet Mommy

My Skirt-Wearing Secrets

2012-02-13T10:43:00.000-04:00

I'm really getting into this skirt-wearing thing.

Now don't worry, I'm not going to go all "churn my own butter" on you.

Except wait... I do churn my own butter sometimes.

Nevermind.

I call skirt-wearing my "Little House on the Prairie Syndrome." When I wear a skirt, I work harder at my housework. I know it's all in my head, but it still happens. There's something so domestic about it. So ladylike. So comfy.

At least it is now that I've discovered my favourite trick for winter skirt wearing! More about that later...

skirt - Smart Set

Just wanted to show you my "outfit of the day." We're going to the museum later today (free for the month of February!), but this is also something I would just wear around the house. Minus the shoes - I'm usually barefoot whenever possible.

I feel like the glasses and the nose ring keep me from descending into frumpy mommy-fashion. The nose piercing was a slightly rebellious eighteen-year-old decision. I say slightly rebellious because while I may not have had my parent's approval, I did have their permission. Lucky for me Cory LOVES it, so it stays for the time being.

Oxfords - Ardene ($3)

I love these cheapo shoes.

But I promised I would share my favourite winter skirt-wearing tip. Men-folks: I'm about to talk about ladies undergarments. Go away.

My problem with skirts in the winter has never been the skirts themselves, but the tights underneath. I'm not exactly a tall woman (5' 6"), and I'm definitely not a large woman, so why - for goodness sake - won't tights stay up on me? They slip! They slide! I'm constantly hitching (which is far from ladylike). Honestly this is probably the main reason I only tolerate a skirt or dress for a few short hours on Sunday morning and then pull my jeans back on as soon as I get home from church. I can't stand the constant feeling of losing my tights!

But I've found a solution! A pair of those high-waisted, "slimming" underwear pulled on over the tights. I just bought a cheap pair and don't really find that they're very slimming, but they sure hold my tights up! I love them. I feel like a whole new world of wardrobe choices has opened up to me now that I don't have to worry about hiking up my tights constantly.

Freedom!

So that's what I've been wearing lately. I feel comfy, feminine, and still a little funky. I am only 22, after all.

Check out my Style pinboard for more outfits that I love and/or am inspired by.

What's your style? Do you have any favourite tips for making your clothes comfier? Do you have a style board on Pinterest for me to check out? Leave a comment!

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Linking up to: The Better Mom, Time-Warp Wife, Growing Home, Far Above Rubies, Raising Homemakers, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Raising Mighty Arrows, Living in the Shoe

Finding Balance

2012-02-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

I recently read a blog post over at Crunchy Betty about finding your moderation.

source

Her post, and others that I've read recently in the blog world, got me thinking.

Where is my limit?

What is my balance?

Where should I draw a line and where should I be flexible?

Obviously these are questions that must be asked of every area of your life, but I'm talking about nutrition here. The stuff we put into our mouths. Breakfast, lunch, dinner, every day.

Sometimes it can become overwhelming. The more I learn, the more I sometimes want to throw my hands up in despair and buy store-bought bread and fruit-roll-ups. I'll be honest, I miss granola bars in convenient packages. I miss canned soup, I miss packaged cereal, and I miss our weekly date with a frozen pizza.

A lot of my heath decisions have been based on money just as much as nutrition - DIY-ing is a heck of a lot cheaper sometimes. But sometimes it's not.

Let's take the humble tomato.

source

It's so simple and easy to crack open a can of diced tomatoes and dump it into your meal, and it's certainly cheap. But canned tomatoes, because of their acidity, are one of the WORST foods for containing BPA. So this fall I canned my own. It was a lot of work, kind of expensive, and I ran out after just a few short months. So I went back to the store-bought cans. Lately I've been experimenting with just buying fresh tomatoes and blanching, peeling, chopping, and adding those to recipes that call for a can of tomatoes. It's about twice as expensive as a can and is way more work, but at least I know I'm not filling my sweet little boys with BPA.

But here's one of my main issues (I have many): What about when we go out? What about at friend's houses, at church, when we're in town and need lunch... what about those times? What am I going to compromise on and what do we avoid at all costs?

I've been pretty laid back about it up until this point. Since we have almost no "compromise foods" actually in the house, I've relaxed and let that be licence to eat whatever we went when we're not at home. But you're looking at at least two or three times a week in that case.

White flour. White sugar. Processed meats, fake cheese, soy products, unhealthy fats like margarine and vegetable oil. Hydrogenated... trans fats... artificial sweeteners... *shudder*.

source

But at the same time I don't want to be "That Mom." The one who brings her own snacks for her children, turns her nose up at what's offered her and won't let her kids sample the birthday cake.

At some point, you have to let kids be kids.

BUT at the same time, it's also our job as parents to protect our children from dangerous things. As hard as Theo tries, I don't let him suck on the power bar. Physical dangers have more immediate and visible consequences, but the dangers of a poor diet are far reaching.

I've been very lenient thus far, but even I have my limits. There are certain things that drive me CRAZY and I'm willing to make a stand about.

Beverages are a constant source of irritation for me. All I can think of when I see a tall glass of pop or "juice" is the incredible amount of sugar (and other chemicals) contained therein. Even juice made from 100% fruit contains a LOT of sugar, and is stripped of the fibre that fruit would naturally contain. I almost always say no to pop, kool-aid, sports drinks, and juice - even the "real" juice.

There's really only one thing that's an ABSOLUTE NO on my list of "naughty" foods.

Artificial Sweeteners. Mostly in the form of diet foods. Anything labeled "sugar-free" or "no added sugar" needs to be checked out. Powdered drink mixes, jello, diet yogurts, gum, candy, etc.

I don't want them crossing my children's lips. Diet sodas are an absolute no-way-never kind of thing. I would FAR rather they drink a regular soda than a diet.

Katie from Kitchen Stewardship recently posted a great article talking about different artificial sweeteners. You should definitely check it out if you have more questions, she has great links to her sources all through.

There are a few other things that, although they aren't on the "totally banned" list, I reeeeally don't want my family consuming and want to get better at avoiding.

Margarine. If there's no butter, eat your bread/vegetables plain. It's not worth it.
Hotdogs and other highly processed meats. There are usually burgers or chicken at a summer BBQ - we'll go for those instead.
Mayonnaise, Miracle Whip and equivalents. I make my own mayo with healthy olive oil, and sunflower oil is another good option, but store bought mayo - even if it says olive oil on the package - is still mostly vegetable oil.
Salad dressings. I'm not good at this one, I love dressing on my salad. I even think that a good dressing is important because the combination of fat and acid helps your body more readily digest all those raw veggies. But again, number one ingredient on most store bought salad dressings? Soybean oil.
All fast food. This one goes without saying, but it's hard when we're in town running errands and hunger strikes. I either need to get better at planning ahead and bringing food with us, or we need to compromise on some place that does not have golden arches. Subway can be ok... (but all that bread and dressing?). I hear we have a Pita Pit opening up soon, thinking that may become our new go-to place.

So there's my list. My thoughts. I'm not nailed down on all this yet, and I don't want to become the diet Nazi, but these are just a few things I've been thinking about lately.

Now, I want to hear from you!

How do you find balance when it comes to yours and your children's diets? Do you let them eat what they want when you go out? Are there any "ABSOLUTE NO" foods? Let me know.

Family Purpose Statement

2012-02-07T21:07:00.002-04:00

I've been reading through Tsh Oxenreider's organizational e-book One Bite at a Time - 52 Projects for Making Life Simpler. It's a great read.

And ok, I haven't really done very many of the projects yet. A few I already did, but mostly I think to myself What a great idea! That would really make life so much simpler!

And there it stays.

BUT, Cory and I did sit down together one night and hammer out our family purpose statement. Maybe it's a little corny, but I agree with Tsh that it's important. Sure we might have the same broad goals, but it was really good for us to sit down and ask what those broad goals will look like as they are accomplished through our family. Nobody's family is the same, so no two families will have the same purpose statement.

We used this website to get us started, then tweaked and changed things around. Here's what we came up with.

Vail Family Purpose Statement

As a family we are at our best when each member of the family is striving to live by grace through faith by the power of the Holy Spirit.

We will try to prevent times when we attempt to live by our own strength – allowing selfish desires to wage war in our flesh.

We will find more time with each other to intentionally serve God by serving others.

We will help each family member by listening, being patient, spurring one another on towards love and good deeds, and by reminding one another of the Gospel.

We will help others by giving to and serving in the church, and by practicing hospitality.

We will stop procrastinating and start working on: sharing the Gospel with others, fulfilling our God-given roles and "reverse-engineering" our lives.

We will be viewed as a family that is tightly knit, compassionate, hospitable, gracious and loving.

We will constantly renew ourselves by focusing on: worship, exercise, nutrition, learning, and fellowship.

We will make choices and decisions based on: God’s word, the Holy Spirit’s leading, and wise council.

We will remember that it is all about Jesus.

That's our statement. It's in a Word document on our computer, but now I need a way to display it.

We want it to be visible in our home so that we can point to it regularly. When we want to eat chips and watch TV, we can point to item number eight. When we discipline our children, we can point to the second item. When we have a tough decision to make, we can remind ourselves of the tenth item.

But I'm NOT creative. I have no idea how to put this up, except maybe to type it up in a pretty font and frame it. That may be what I end up doing, but I would love to find something even prettier.

If your family has a purpose statement, leave me a link. I'd love to read it! And if you have a good idea for a way to display it, let me know.

Linking up to: Raising Homemakers, Homemaker's Challenge, Raising Mighty Arrows, Our Simple Country Life

Roast Chicken - The Lazy Way

2012-01-24T08:18:00.000-04:00

Warning: You are about to see the not-so-gourmet side of the Gourmet Mommy. Food snobs beware.

There are so many recipes and techniques for roasting a chicken out there it's overwhelming. When you start looking at the advice given, the rules, the "don't do this" and "never do that" and "always to this" you can start to get dizzy.

At least I can.

See, we buy our chicken in bulk. Our neighbours raise chickens and slaughter them, so we buy 20 or so large, whole birds in the fall to last us the year. It's healthy, economical, and delicious! I love that I can use the leftover carcass to make homemade chicken stock.

But here's the problem - I could never remember to thaw the bird ahead of time.

Besides, all these complicated processes? I kept thinking that there must be an easier way.

Turns out, there is.

This, friends, is a whole, raw, completely frozen chicken. All I did was pull it out of the freezer, peel off the plastic bag and plunk it into my roaster. Grody, I know.

Now, we roast it.

ALL you have to do is splash a little water into the bottom of the pan. You don't even have to do that except that it means more gravy (and who doesn't love more gravy!). Put the lid on tight, put it in your oven set to 350 degrees, and forget about it for five or six hours. I usually put it in at lunch time to be ready for supper.

Of course if you've got a smaller bird it won't take as long, but you get the general idea. Just cook the dang thing.

Here's the best part - the chicken comes out of the oven moist, tender, and completely falling off the bone. The skin on the top even crisps up nicely!

Six hours later, the lighting is crummy. But you get the idea.

See the bones bursting through the skin? That means it's falling-apart tender and delicious.

A few things:

You see I used a rack. You don't have to. I don't really find it makes any difference, the rack just happens to be in the roaster so I don't take it out. I'm lazy when it comes to chicken, in case you hadn't noticed.
You see I put the chicken breast side down. You don't have to. I'm just not a huge fan of white meat anyway, and roasting it breast side down makes it a little more moist.
You see that it's ugly. It doesn't matter, it tastes good, it was no work, and that's what's really important in life.

After the chicken is done I take it out and set it on a platter, pull it apart and we dig in. I make gravy with the drippings in the bottom, adding lots of salt and pepper and using a mixture of three parts brown rice flour and one part arrowroot to thicken it (gluten free, and healthier than white flour).

Enjoy your roast chicken dinner! We usually have ours with mashed potatoes OR cauliflower, carrots, peas, coleslaw, and homemade Lady Ashburnham pickles (Eli's favourite).

The next day you can pick off the leftover meat and make a soup or a casserole, then use the bones to make homemade chicken stock.

Congratulations. You just did virtually no work, and you have a roast chicken dinner to show for it. That's my kind of gourmet!

Linking up to The Purposed Heart, Like a Bubbling Brook and these other blog hops:

Blog Design on a Dime WINNER

2012-01-21T13:14:00.000-04:00

*Drumroll please*

And the winner of the Blog Design on a Dime e-book IS...

Entry #43, Naomi.

Thanks to all who entered to win. If you didn't win, you can grab your own copy of the book by clicking on the link below. Happy blog designing!

My Favourite Pizza

2012-01-20T10:46:00.002-04:00

I think pizza is underrated. It seems that everyone demonizes pizza - blaming it on their inability to loose weight or their poor health. To be sure, pizza from your favourite fast food place or the food court in the mall is terrible stuff. It's loaded with processed ingredients, chemicals, and unhealthy fats. But pizza that you make yourself at home can actually be a great option for several reasons.

It's frugal. You don't have to use a lot of meat (which can be pricey).
It's healthy. Make your own crust, top with loads of veggies, and drizzle with healthy olive oil.
It's easy. It comes together fast, cooks quickly and can use whatever leftovers you have in the fridge.
It's popular. I don't know about your family, but when I announce that it's pizza night at our house everybody celebrates!

My family's favourite is a simple tomato and asparagus pizza that I invented out of the leftovers in our fridge one night. It's become an often-requested favourite!

Read the rest over at Growing Home.

Linking up to Plan to Eat.

Pesky Little Brother

2012-01-18T20:19:00.001-04:00

When Theo was first born, it seemed like it would be forever before my boys would be able to start playing together. My helpless infant went, for the most part, completely ignored by my toddler. Only the occasional bout of the hiccups would spark some interest - "Mum, a Fee hiccuppin?" - or loud crying if we were confined to the car would produce "NO Fee! Dop ky-ing! [stop crying]"

But for the most part, Eli went on his merry way in life oblivious to the new addition.

Slowly but surely, that's changing.

Exhibit A:

This sort of thing happens regularly now. Eli loves to make his little brother laugh. I missed it because I didn't get the camera out in time - but Theo was giggling hysterically. Other favourite laugh-inducers are growling, dancing, and belly-kissing.

Of course, Theo is not just a passive spectator. He too attempts to engage his brother, and already I can see the "annoying little brother" syndrome starting.

My apologies for the continuous lack of pants. It's a daily battle - I usually lose.

Eli asked me to strap his sword to his side, and then was so proud of himself he wanted a picture taken. Theo didn't want to be left out of the excitement.

A short battle ensued. Rather than intervene, I snapped pictures. They are too cute!

Eli's exasperated look here just kills me.

For the most part, these boys get along famously. But of course there will be some conflict. They're human, and they're brothers.

My hope is that they grow up to be close friends. It might take a long time, but I'm going to do my best to teach them to love and forgive each other.

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins - 1 Peter 4:8

For those of you that have children, what is your best strategy for helping them get along? I'm going to need all the advice I can get!

PS: Don't forget about the Blog Design on a Dime GIVEAWAY happening now!

Linking up:

Blog Design on a Dime E-book GIVEAWAY

2012-01-16T12:49:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited to be hosting my first real giveaway here at Gourmet Mommy, especially when I'm so excited about the prize - a copy of Blog Design on a Dime, a new e-book by Jacinda Vandenberg.

Jacinda blogs over at Growing Home, and I've greatly enjoyed reading her posts for months. I was drawn to her from the beginning when I noticed our similarities - we're Canadian girls, the same age, married within a month of each other and each with two children, again born within a couple months of each other. We're both second-generation homeschoolers who love blogging, delicious food and learning about homemaking.

But here's where the similarities end because Jacinda is a much more prolific blogger than I, and she's fabulously talented at blog design. She does all her own design work and her blog is lovely. Here's the kicker - in her own words:

I am not a blog designer
I don’t own or know how to use any photo editing software (Photoshop? Adobe? What’s that?!)
I don’t have a clue about HTML coding, CSS, or any other funny term
I have never spent a dime on my own blog design

Jacinda taught herself how to design, and to help the rest of us not so talented folk out, she wrote this e-book. It's a simple instruction manual for how to use the free online program Picnik to design lovely and creative headers, buttons, and social media icons, and how to install them on your blog.

I snapped up a copy as soon as she published and read the whole thing. I knew I was going to be giving a copy away, so I figured I should probably give some of the projects a shot. With Jacinda's help, I was able to design the social media buttons you now see to the right of the screen. I think they look pretty good, if I do say so myself, and they even work! Her installation instructions were clear and easy to follow, though I did have to wait until my kids were napping so I could concentrate!

I also designed the profile picture and Welcome design for my new Facebook Page. Head on over and check them out - I'm so pleased with how they turned out!

In fact, I was having so much fun with my new-found skill, I went ahead and designed a blog header to surprise a friend of mine. Holly blogs over at Ruby Red Shoes. The best part of that design, though, is not my layout but the painting on the right, because she did it! And she only started painting a year ago. (I know this is off topic but I feel the need to brag about my more talented friends.)

Now to the fun part, a copy of Blog Design on a Dime for one lucky Gourmet Mommy reader! Use the Rafflecopter form below to enter. Giveaway ends Friday. Of course if you simply cannot wait to start reading, feel free to grab your own copy by clicking on the link in the sidebar or at the bottom of this post.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Giveaway sponsored by Growing Home. Affiliate link.

Lesson Learned

2012-01-13T10:20:00.000-04:00

Some lessons are only learned the hard way. See that innocent looking pajama-clad two year old sitting on the couch there? For some reason, when I tell him things, he doesn't believe me.

For some reason, he has to experience it on his own.

Last week I was mopping our dining room floor. Eli was in the kitchen, and to walk to the living room you can either go through the dining room, or through the hallway. I warned him repeatedly to stay out of the dining room, since it was slippery. I used that word repeatedly. "Eli, do not step on the floor. Go around. It's slippery."

I could see the gleam in his eye. The stubborn, "I'm going to do it my way" look on his face.

Several times he tried to step out onto the floor only to be confronted with his equally stubborn mommy insisting that he not walk. So he waited until I was mopping on the other side of the room and had my back turned.

He saw his chance and took it.

He bolted across the room as fast as he could. Of course, his bare little feet quickly lost their footing on the slick damp floor and he slid and fell, giving his head a good whack.

I ran to him and scooped him up, half concerned for his well being and half laughing at his obstinacy. He wasn't hurt at all and didn't cry. I held him in my arms and he rubbed his little head, looking shocked.

"I told you not to step on the floor or you would fall Eli!"

Understanding spread across his face. I could see the revelation happening. "Mommy... SLIPPY!"

That's one way to learn a new word.

Don't forget about the Blog Design on a Dime e-book giveaway, coming Monday!

Something New

2012-01-12T11:48:00.000-04:00

I'm so excited to be announcing the launch of my newest endeavour - the Gourmet Mommy Facebook fan page!

See my fancy-schmancy splash page? I made that. All my myself! Nevermind that it took me half the day, I'm still super proud of myself. And I could not have done it without help.

Which brings me to my next announcement! To celebrate the launch of the Facebook page, Gourmet Mommy is having our first ever giveaway! I'm going to be giving away one free copy of my new favourite e-book, Blog Design on a Dime.

BUT... you have to wait until Monday. Check back then for your chance(s) to win! If you just can't wait, you can click on the banner below to get your own copy for just $4.99.

See you on Monday!

Affiliate link

So Blessed

2012-01-09T09:44:00.001-04:00

Yesterday we had 15 people over for lunch, not including us. This isn't an unusual occurrence, there's a group of us at church that take turns having everyone else over for lunch. This week was our turn to host again.

We had a wonderful afternoon of food and fellowship, but by the time everybody left I had a roaring headache. I looked around at the piles of dirty dishes and the chaos, and then told my husband that I had to lie down. He graciously told me to go ahead, he would watch the boys.

I woke up half an hour later with the headache slightly diminished. I stumbled out into the living room to find that my beloved had changed and fed the baby, cleaned up the dishes, loaded and run the dishwasher, and was currently wearing Theo in the Ergo while wiping down the table and counters.

I have the best husband in the world.

The Coleslaw Fairy

2012-01-04T20:00:00.000-04:00

This was what my Mom got me for Christmas.

KitchenAid KFP750OB 700-Watt 12-Cup Food Processor, Onyx Black

Isn't she beautiful? To be honest, when I first got married I had no idea what to do with a food processor. I really didn't have much use for one. Mom had a little mini one that we used every once in a blue moon, but it just wasn't a kitchen gadget I grew up using. Fast forward a few years and a lot of learning about cooking later, and I found myself drooling over food processors. Perfect pesto evaded me. Hummus was always too runny in the blender. Coleslaw was a pain to chop.

So I was very excited to get this lovely machine this Christmas. I brought it home and unpacked it, figured out all the moving parts (and there are a LOT), and decided to make some coleslaw. I'm embarrassed when I look back at my coleslaw recipe in my original recipe binder I first started putting together when I got married. It calls for a package of pre-shredded coleslaw mix, and a quarter cup of white sugar, among other things. No way this health nut is going to be using those ingredients now!

Did I mention my wonderful husband bought me a set of Cuisinart knives for Christmas too? See that big beautiful shiny chef's knife there? I'm in culinary heaven.

Anyway, all you need for coleslaw is cabbage and a carrot. I didn't use a whole cabbage, I was trying to be temperate. I used close to half of it. I used the grater attachment to grate the carrot and then the thin slicer to do the cabbage. It was so fast and easy, I may have gotten a little carried away. More about that later.

I don't have measurements for dressing the coleslaw because of course that's all going to depend on how much cabbage and carrot you prepared. Who needs measurements anyway, we all know how coleslaw is supposed to look. Just dump and stir until it looks right! For mine, I used homemade mayonnaise, lots of grainy dijon, a splash of white wine vinegar, and salt and pepper until it tasted right. If you like things a little sweeter add some honey, but I find the carrot does wonders for making it sweet enough already.

It was delicious.

However, there was also several pounds of it. As much as we love coleslaw (and OK, Cory doesn't even really love it that much), there was no way. So I did what I usually do when I have too much food, send it over to our neighbours. They have four kids, two of whom are teenage boys, so I'm usually pretty sure they can polish off my leftovers. And if they can't, at least it will be them throwing it out, not me, so I don't have to feel guilty.

So I piled some into a bowl and asked my husband to take it over. He left and returned, but it wasn't until several hours later that he mentioned to me that they actually hadn't been home, so he had just left it in their fridge. I made a mental note to tell her but... I forgot. I remembered later that night and wrote her on Facebook, but apparently she didn't get the note until morning and had spent the night... well, in her own words: "I knew it!!!!!! I drove my family crazy last night (and even frightened some) with my conspiracy theories."

So Holly, I'm sorry for totally weirding you out. I'm sure I would find it strange if a bowl of food from an unknown source appeared in my fridge while I was gone too. Next time the coleslaw mood strikes, I will do my best to warn you in advance.

Linking up to Recipe Swap Friday and these other blog hops:

A New Year's Resolve

2012-01-01T20:59:00.001-04:00

My New Year's resolution started just over a week early this year. I decided to try eating gluten free for a while.

See, my Mom discovered a few years ago that she is sensitive to gluten and can't have any. And these things do tend to run in the family. I decided to give it a go and see if it can't help my eczema at all. I've had eczema to varying degrees of severity for most of my life and I'm just getting very, very tired of it all. Especially since I started having children and it spread to my hands and (worst of all) the tips of my fingers. When the pads of your fingers are cracked and bleeding and your nail is starting to lift off the nail bed, you are ready to try anything.

So, as we packed the car and settled in for the five hour drive to my parent's house for Christmas, I mentioned to Cory that I thought I would try eating gluten free while we were there, since I knew my Mom would be cooking most things GF already.

It wasn't that bad. Since it was the holidays my Mom kept the house stocked with delicious GF treats - blueberry cobbler, pumpkin pudding, rhubarb custard cake - and lots of ice cream to top it with! The hardest part was actually being surrounded by all the Christmas chocolate and not being able to partake.

But I got through. Mom had cooked a wonderful Christmas goose, which was fantastic. Gravy was thickened with brown rice flour, the stuffing was made with gluten-free bread, and there were lots of desserts I could eat.

Now that we're home, it's not very difficult when I'm cooking. When I planned my menu for the week I barely even thought about choosing gluten free foods. Since so much is naturally GF already, a few very small substitutions will suffice. Use brown rice pasta instead of wheat, thicken sauces with brown rice flour or arrowroot instead of wheat flour, and check the labels on any bottled sauces to make sure they haven't snuck any wheat into them (soy sauce and worchestershire you have to watch for).

HOWEVER, today was my first real challenge. I made our breakfast at home, "breakfast bowls" (just sausage, onion, diced tomato, basil, and beaten eggs all tossed into a bowl, topped with cheese and baked - YUM), and then like every Sunday we went to lunch at a friend's house. She had made a beautiful chicken pot pie. Of course pie is very much out of the question, so for lunch I ate some green beans and a very large helping of salad. It was delicious, and no doubt very healthy, but it was difficult smelling that pie. Dessert came out - platters of cookies and squares and an elegant trifle. I thought about nabbing a rice crispy square to munch on since I was feeling a bit left out, but I reminded myself that I really don't even like rice crispy squares and I refrained.

We left lunch and went to another friend's house for supper (this isn't a usual occurrence, just so happened to be a busy day!). She had made a lovely roast beef dinner with potatoes and peas and carrots. I was happy to be able to eat everything, though I gazed rather longingly at the gravy that I couldn't have.

Dessert was the most difficult moment of the day. A large, homemade, chocolate swirl cheesecake. Cheesecake is my favourite. It was even gluten free! Oh the humanity! I had to steel myself internally and remind myself of why I gave up chocolate in the first place. I remembered how awful the migraine headaches are, and how I'm completely unable to function when one has hit me hard. I tasted a tiny corner of Eli's piece that didn't have any chocolate swirled into it, and let that be enough.

And now? I'm home and devouring corn chips and homemade black bean dip with a relish. I sort of felt like I had earned it after having to hold back all day. And I didn't even mention the New Year's Eve party at the church! Thank God for corn chips.

It's been nine whole days since I ate any gluten. My eczema has not improved, exactly, but it stopped getting worse. Part of me wants this to work so that I don't have to deal with cracked fingers anymore. Another part of me wants it to not work so I can go back to eating yummy gluten!

I will keep you updated...

Big Man Upstairs

2011-12-19T14:43:00.000-04:00

Ah, Santa. That jolly old fellow, inextricably connected to our Christmas season. Also an eternal source of conflict among Christians and non-Christians alike. Everyone has different ways of dealing with Santa, from those who embrace the mall photos and write "from Santa" on every gift, to those who are quick to point out that "Santa" rearranged spells "Satan" and cover their children's eyes whenever a Coca Cola ad comes on TV.

Our children are very young yet so we really haven't had to deal with Santa very much. Although this is Eli's third Christmas, it's the first one where he's really at all aware. We encountered Santa at our community tree trim, and despite a little trepidation Eli took his place in line to receive his treat bag full of candy. Then proceeded several days of talking about "Satta! Canny!" after which Santa quickly faded out of his little memory.

My growing up is filled with clear memories of my own reaction to Santa Claus. We didn't "do" Santa in our family. It was always clear that Santa wasn't real, and our presents were always "From Mom and Dad." It certainly didn't make Christmas any less exciting for us as children - after all, these were presents - who cares who they're from!

My attitude about Santa was one of somewhat smug superiority over my less-informed friends. I had been carefully instructed and admonished that I was NOT to tell them that Santa wasn't real. I wasn't to lie to them, but just avoid the subject. I was fine with this. I remember that it would annoy me when store clerks or people at church would ask me if I was excited about Santa coming. I wanted them to know that I knew, and that we didn't have to keep up the charade. Inquiries about Santa were usually met with an annoyed glance and an "I know that Santa Claus ISN'T REAL" from little Emily. My mother found it awkward. So did the store employees. In retrospect I can see why.

My darling next sister had a very different perspective. She was much more tender-hearted than I was. While I was content with my superior knowledge, she was crushed that her poor friends were so deceived. In her little mind, their parents were lying to them, and she would be their saviour. Despite my parents' attempts to restrain her, I'm sure she spilled the beans on more than one occasion, tears in her eyes, earnestly pleading with her young friends to see the truth.

Lianne (Santa-hater), Me, Ariel (The Pretty One), Naomi (Baby)

As we got older and this became less of an issue, my arrogance was replaced with apathy, while her genuine concern was replaced with resentment. She hated Santa Claus. Even as an adult I'm pretty sure she still dislikes most things connected with him. I am sure that when she gets married and has little ones of her own there will be no Santa Claus in that house. Might have to write it into the marriage contract...

My two youngest sisters were much like me, maybe not so arrogant but definitely not as passionately anti-Santa as Lianne was.

So the question remains, what to do about Santa? Having grown up the way I did I have a very hard time imagining ever encouraging my children to believe in Santa. That being said, I would never object to parents "playing" Santa with their children, as long as they weren't lying to them. Some things are black and white, and the Bible clearly says not to lie. It doesn't say that there are exceptions, or it's ok if it's a harmless lie, or a lie that will help people, or a lie that is fun, it merely says don't lie. I try not to question what the Bible says. It generally turns out to be right. So I wouldn't lie to my children. I also will not demonize Santa, since I see no problem with pretending and make believe.

Ultimately, I don't want the focus of Christmas to be Santa or no Santa, "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays," presents or donating money. I want it to be about the birth of Christ, not controversy. That's my goal for this season!

Linking Up:

A Perfect Mama

2011-12-06T14:04:00.001-04:00

This morning, I rose at six. I made a pot of coffee and curled up in the comfy chair with my Bible and read a chapter. I prepared healthy green smoothies for my family for breakfast, then showered and dressed, gave my husband a kiss goodbye and cleaned up the kitchen. Eli and I did school together, and then we baked a batch of cookies.

Yes, I'm pretty much the perfect mother.

Or... am I?

I did get up at six - when Theo demanded to be fed and Eli climbed into our bed. I groaned and grumbled that they never sleep in.

I did make a pot of coffee - out of necessity - and curl up to read my chapter. I also snapped at Eli for disturbing me during this "me" time and insisted that he sit on the couch by himself rather than curl up in my lap. I read quickly and skipped prayer so I could check my e-mail.

I did make delicious, healthy green smoothies for breakfast - then had a 30 minute battle with my toddler who was refusing to drink his.

I did shower and get dressed - after sharply berating my husband for not paying close enough attention to Eli.

I did kiss my husband (who was gracious enough to forgive my grumpiness) and clean up the kitchen - because I hadn't cleaned it very well the night before.

I did do school with Eli - though my short temper made it a difficult and stressful experience for both of us.

I did bake a batch of cookies with Eli - and snapped at him again for spilling oats on the floor.

Halfway through the morning, when I snapped at my active toddler once again and sent him to his room, I took a minute to breathe and calm down. I've been struggling some with anxiety the last few days and it's getting to me. I went back into his room, scooped him up and cuddled him, and prayed with him for a minute. Two year olds are so quick to forgive! Everything wasn't magically all better, but it helped a lot.

When my husband came home on this rainy day to hear classical music playing softly in the background and to see me pulling a tray of butterscotch cookies out of the oven, he praised me for creating such a calm, happy atmosphere. He's almost as quick to forgive as our two year old! All my meanness from the morning dissolved in the bowl of my stand mixer. I should never underestimate the power of gentle music, cookies... and a quick prayer!

Blogs are a funny thing. It's so easy to present only the good in my life. To brag about what we're accomplishing and all my hard work. It's only too easy to hide the battles, the crankiness, and my short temper. Unfortunately, that's not really what my life is like. But by the grace of God... it's getting there. Two steps forward and one step back. Today was a "one step back" kind of day. Here's hoping tomorrow will be a "two steps forward!"

Farewell

2011-11-22T20:37:00.001-04:00

It was good news and it was bad news.

The good news was that I figured out one of the major triggers of the migraines that I have been battling for years. The bad news? It's chocolate.

You can all weep for me here.

It wouldn't be so bad if it were just an additive or preservative commonly used in chocolate, but no, it's the cocoa itself that seems to be the problem. That means my favourite healthy chocolate fudge recipe is out. It means my evening tryst with a square of organic 85% dark chocolate is very much out. A small amount of cheap milk chocolate is fine, but really, what's the point? I loved the good stuff.

It's at this point that I wish I were allergic to boring things like penicillin or brazil nuts. My husband is allergic to turkey, which is a bit annoying around Thanksgiving/Christmas but really not too much of a burden when you consider he can still eat chicken.

Me? I'm allergic to two things: strawberries and chocolate. Oh the humanity.

Ok, I'm over it now. Done complaining. And really, I whine and protest but in the end I'm so relieved to have finally discovered the trigger for those vicious headaches. I don't know if that's the only cause, but I haven't had one since giving up chocolate.

And in the end it just makes me more thankful that I'm a Christian and have the hope of heaven set before me. To be in the presence of God the Father will be amazing... and to eat chocolate and strawberries at that great feast will be such a joy!

Dresser Solution

2011-11-05T20:46:00.002-03:00

My dresser gets messy. I don't know about your house, but in my bedroom for some reason I'll pick up the floor, make the bed, clean off the nightstands and then toss everything onto the dresser. Clutter happens. We don't have a closet in our bedroom, so the two dressers are full of clothes, with no room for any "stuff" in the drawers. So it all goes on top. I don't wear a ton of makeup, I don't have much fancy hair stuff and don't wear much jewelry, but somehow it just spreads itself all over and makes a mess. I was tired of it. I would clean it up and straighten everything, line it all up neatly, and it would stay like that for approximately 20 minutes.

I took a couple of before pictures. This is what my dresser looked like. Messy, huh?

Here's both dressers. I thought about at least shutting the bureau drawers before I snapped the photo but then decided to just leave it as is. More authentic that way.

And what, you ask, was the solution to this problem? A simple wicker basket I picked up at Superstore. It was half off, though still overpriced at $10.

I might have been able to find something cheaper at Value Village, but when every stop while shopping involves unbuckling a toddler, putting on my Ergo, unbuckling a baby and strapping him into the Ergo, going into the store, trying to keep the toddler from grabbing or running away while you're trying to pay, then back out to the car, strapping both kids back in... let's just say I'm currently a big fan of one stop shopping.

So I bought the basket, brought it home, cleared off items that didn't belong on the dresser in the first place but had been buried under stuff that DID belong there, and tossed everything into the basket. I didn't organize it or even try to make it all neat, I'm just being realistic here. I have no aspirations that the basket will stay neat and clean, all I want to do is make the dresser itself look a little more uncluttered. So here's the result:

Ahhh. So much better. An uncluttered space makes the room look ten times more put together. As long as I pick up the floor, make the bed, and sweep everything off the top of the dresser and into the basket every day, I feel like the bedroom is neat. And a neat and tidy bedroom makes a happy Mommy. And a happy Daddy, too!

A Few Items

2011-11-01T19:34:00.001-03:00

A while back I read a tip from a blogger that suggested every time you go to order something online, do a quick Google search to see if there's a coupon or promo code you can apply to the purchase. I thought, Huh, that's a good idea... and then never did it. Until today! I was ordering a Christmas present for my sister and figured why not. Turns out I found one, and got free shipping out of it. Saved myself $7.50, just with a few strokes on the keyboard. I'm now a believer, and will probably never buy anything online ever again without checking first for a coupon.

Oh, the present was for this sister:

Isn't she pretty? TOO pretty if you ask me. She's going to hate that I posted this picture. Her name is Ariel and someday I'm going to have a little girl and name her Ariel after her. That's Ariel as in "Are-ee-ell," like in the book of Isaiah, not Ariel as in "Air-ee-ell" like the mermaid. Poor girl has spent her whole life correcting people and now I'm going to doom another little girl to a life of correcting others.

Hmmm... that not-so-great photo of my sister inspired me to look through my picture folder and I'm finding some other not very attractive pictures. Let's see...

My parents! Phew, that's a bad one. They're much more attractive than that in person. Take my word for it.

My son! This is Eli. I can't even look at this picture without bursting out laughing.

And just to be fair...

Let's allow chubby, greasy-haired Mommy to make an appearance. AURGH! Ihadababytwomonthsago! Ineverhavetimetoshower! Itsabadcameraangle!

Sorry you had to see that.

Until next time something pops into my head...

-Emily

Controversy

2011-11-01T07:15:00.002-03:00

October 30th through November 5th is National Vaccine Awareness Week in the US. Our health care systems may not be identical here in Canada, but our vaccination schedule and number of shots given are virtually the same as in the States.

This isn't a popular topic. I don't really like posting about super hot topics, I don't like conflict! But this is something that I've really struggled with, and I'm not sure I really have all the answers yet. Are vaccinations safe? Are they safe for everyone? Are they truly effective? Do they really do what they say they will do? Is there a better way to prevent diseases? I don't have all the answers yet.

Eli is a fully vaccinated, healthy and happy two-year-old. I never noticed a single reaction from him after any shot. No rashes, slight fevers, nothing. He wasn't even fussy! At the hospital when he was born, I was presented with the option of giving him the Hepatitis B vaccine. The nurses were very careful to tell me that it was my choice. I was confused and unsure what to do. The nurse was able to give me a little brochure of information about the disease, and it sounded unpleasant. I wasn't offered any information about the actual vaccine itself, but I opted to go ahead and let him have it. So Eli had his first vaccine at only a day old.

As the months went on and he was given more and more shots I started looking into it a little more. I read articles on both sides of the argument, carefully perused the Government of Canada's website, and tried hard to educate myself. All this while I kept taking him back for his vaccines right on schedule, but as I learned more it got harder to go through with every time. At his last appointment at 18 months old I almost backed out I was so conflicted. It's so hard to see your child in pain, and vaccines are no fun. The only reason that mothers are able to do it is because they "know" that they are doing what's best for their child. At that point though, I wasn't even sure I was doing what was best for him anymore. Letting him have those last two shots was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Then after they were done, the nurse informed me that he was going to have to come back again for a third chicken pox vaccine. It seems they were finding that two shots to prevent the chicken pox weren't working, so now children needed three. I threw up my hands in frustration and told her no. It was the first vaccine I declined.

When Theo was born, I knew right away that we weren't going to be giving him the Hep B vaccine. For starters - Hepatitis B is not a disease that Canadian infants are even exposed to. Secondly I was no longer comfortable with giving a child a vaccine when they were only hours old. I assumed this would be no big deal - after all at Eli's birth they had been very careful to inform me that the decision lay in my hands. To my surprise, when the nurse came to take Theo for his first bath she told me "And he'll get his Hep B vaccine now too." I told her that we wouldn't be getting that shot, and her lips immediately tightened. She told me that she would bring a form that I needed to sign stating that I declined the vaccine and that the baby's doctor would have to be informed. When she brought the form, I saw that it was not vaccine specific but rather a general form stating that I was refusing a treatment. Part of it even said (I don't remember the exact wording) that by signing I was acknowledging that my choices would probably lead to sickness and death. What!

In retrospect, I should have put my foot down and refused to sign the stupid thing. However, in my tired post-delivery state I took the easy route and just signed it. Next baby I will not consent to sign something ridiculous like that. I don't want to be obnoxious or difficult (did I mention I really don't like conflict?) but I feel guilty that I even put my name down on that form, since I obviously didn't agree with what it was saying.

After declining that first vaccine, the time for him to get his first round of regular immunizations loomed closer and I started feeling panicky. I read tons of articles - both sides of the argument of course - and the more I read the less I was convinced. Here's the hard part - I'm not convinced vaccines don't work. If I was completely sure the whole thing was a scam or a conspiracy then that would make the decision easier. But I think they do work, or did work, I'm just not sure that they're safe or that they are the most effective way of protecting ourselves against diseases.

In the end, Theo hasn't had any shots yet. He's only five months old, and I may choose to have some late, or I might just wait and leave the decision up to him once he's an adult. As a parent, the best I can do is make the choices that I think will keep my children as safe and healthy as possible. For me, that means no vaccines for now. In the future that might mean limited vaccines, I don't know.

Ultimately, I just don't want to turn my children into test subjects for a practice that has not been sufficiently tested to prove that it's safe. Sure, Cory and I were both vaccinated as children and turned out fine. Eli has had all of his to date and has had no problems whatsoever. But I'm not going to keep injecting my kids with something that has severely damaged and even killed other people and just hope that it turns out OK. It's not a risk I'm willing to take.

Obviously I'm no scientist so I would encourage you to do your own research and reading on this subject. A lot of people use the delayed vaccination schedule promoted by Dr. Sears in his book "The Vaccine Book."

What bothers me is the assumption that only ignorant conspiracy-theorists don't vaccinate their kids. On the contrary, the people I know who don't vaccinate are the ones who are the most well read and well versed on vaccines. People who do vaccinate often know little to nothing about what is being injected into themselves or their children. I would put myself into that category when Eli was first born. Half the time I had no idea what needles he was even getting! It was once I started familiarizing myself with vaccines that I started to have concerns. Everyone, no matter which side of the debate they fall on, should be able to make an intelligent, informed decision about vaccination.

A great place to go for information is the National Vaccine Information Center's website. For us Canadians, the Vaccination Risk Awareness Network is another great resource. Of course the Government of Canada's website has lots of info supporting vaccines.

One of the main reasons I'm writing this post is to tell you about the documentary that is available to watch for free right now, just for this week. The film The Greater Good can be streamed in its entirety on Dr. Mercola's website right now. Cory and I watched it together and it was very informative. While the movie is certainly trying to raise a lot of concerns about vaccination, it also had experts on the pro-vaccine side of the debate weigh in.

This post from a blogger that I follow does a great job of articulating why she does not get the flu shot, which is one shot that I've never gotten and never will!

Ultimately, you have to make your own decision about vaccination. I just hope that you aren't like I was and just blindly follow the pack.

I Took A Break

2011-10-29T07:42:00.001-03:00

Well... it's been a while.

I would like to say that my lack of posting has been due to some sort of spiritual revelation - a new devotion to spending all my time selflessly caring for my family instead of aimlessly wandering around the internet. But that wouldn't exactly be true.

I was, however, a bit too caught up in checking my hits and comments and followers and was getting a bit obsessed. I like blogging, but I don't want to be a "blogger" or make any income off my blog because it's not my passion. I don't want or need the responsibility of coming up with posts all the time in order to keep a following. I do think that it's a great way for some women to supplement their husband's income while staying at home, but it's not for me. I'm exploring other options on that front - perhaps I'll discuss them in a later post.

Anyway, after my initial blogging break of a week or so, this happened.

That's my beloved's hand. Believe it or not it's actually only his pinky finger that was injured, but it was pretty crushed when a piece of machinery at work fell on it, leaving fractures through the whole finger and joints. Because his job is quite physical, he's unable to work for a few weeks and has been home. We were worried that it was going to need plastic surgery to reconstruct the finger, but as of his last appointment the doctor informed us that, while it will never quite look the same, he does not need surgery. Hurrah!

So I've had my husband around for the past several weeks, which has meant less time spent blogging and more time spent looking busy (it's good accountability!). Add to that the fact that I'm currently obsessed with the TV show "Biggest Loser" and spend my free computer time lounging in the recliner eating snacks and watching it (oh the irony...), and my blog has been very much neglected.

But do not worry! Ideas for posts abound, and I want to talk about the fact that I've finally started meal planning. My mom always made detailed meal plans, and I tried it when we were first married and failed miserably. I think the problem back then was that, with no kids, we were more spontaneous and not guaranteed to be home a lot of nights. Plus I was working. Also, I had the idea that it killed creativity in the kitchen. However, last week I made my first meal plan and it was a HUGE load off my mind every day. I knew exactly what was for dinner, I always had any meat thawed, it was fantastic! This week I looked over our schedule and planned a slow cooker meal for the day we have a doctor's appointment. I think this is going to make my life a lot easier. And the food was just as delicious and fun to cook as ever.

Since I've been so neglectful, I'll leave you with this quick pizza idea we had a few weeks ago. It was SO yummy!

And yes, that crust is made with white flour *blushes*. I ran out of whole wheat! Basically, I halved cherry tomatoes, tossed them with a couple cloves of minced garlic, spread them on a baking sheet and roasted at 450 degrees just for 3 or 4 minutes to get some of the water out. Then I spread out my crust and topped with olive oil, salt and pepper, fresh mozzarella, cooked bacon, the tomatoes and garlic from before and a generous amount of freshly grated parmesan. Bake at 450 for 10-15 minutes until hot and bubbly. Yummy!

Soaked Pumpkin Spice Muffins

2011-09-16T12:34:00.000-03:00

Before I start in on the recipe, I have to make something clear here: these are not the prettiest muffins to look at. They're sort of a dingy brown, nondescript colour. But the flavour? Out of this world.

I'm trying to jump more on the soaked grains bandwagon, not just because they are good for you but also because I'm finding they just taste better. Soft, moist, slightly acidic... YUM.

Inspiration came from this recipe on Kitchen Stewardship for soaked pumpkin muffins, but I had to change it around due to the ingredients I had on hand. I had to change it a lot. I'm running low on butter so I used olive oil.It doesn't taste olive-y at all, it's great, but melted butter would probably give it an even better flavour. I might try that next time. Melted coconut oil would be great too but that stuff is expensive so I tend to hoard it! I didn't want to use sugar (when do I ever?) and thought that the ever-so-slight maple flavour from some real maple syrup would be perfect with the pumpkin. I was right.

After I pulled these pumpkin muffins out of the oven yesterday morning I knew I had hit on a great discovery. These are incredibly soft and moist, sweet and flavourful... I can't praise them enough. And today even though they're a day old they remain just as moist and soft as they were yesterday.

Soaked Pumpkin Muffins

The night before, in a bowl combine:

1 2/3 cups whole grain flour (I used a mix of spelt and kamut because it's what I had but anything would be fine)
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup pumpkin puree
2/3 cup olive oil

Cover and leave in a warm place overnight. In the morning, add:

2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup maple syrup (I'm guessing because I just poured a bunch in)
1/4 tsp stevia extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
pinch cloves
pinch ginger

Spoon into greased muffin tins (I got 15 out of this) and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

You can play around with the spices depending on what you like. You could use more or less of anything, but be generous. These are Pumpkin Spice Muffins, you want to taste the spice! Allspice would be nice too, or you could go the lazy route and just dump in some pre-mixed pumpkin pie spice. Nothing wrong with that!

These were great warm, but I actually liked them even better once they had cooled to room temperature. I've eaten way too many of them already, spread with some homemade cultured butter (recipe coming soon!). They make for a super yummy breakfast with a cup of coffee, a great afternoon snack, or a delicious after dinner treat with a cup of Earl Grey. Hope you try them, let me know if you do!

Canning Tomatoes

2011-09-12T13:49:00.001-03:00

I decided to do a post chronicling my adventures in canning tomatoes. This was my first attempt and my first year doing it. It was work, but it's worth it to avoid all the BPA that leaches into store-bought canned tomatoes.

Please don't take anything I say seriously, because I'm sure I didn't do half of what you're supposed to do to can safely. I didn't add any lemon juice (you're supposed to), I processed in a boiling water bath (the internet tells me I should have used a pressure canner) and I used my oven to sterilize my jars (another no-no).

However in my internet explorings as I tried to decide how I was going to go about it I ran across one woman who has been canning tomatoes for decades, and she just brings them to a boil, pours them into clean jars and puts the lid on. I figured if she hasn't died yet, then probably I don't need to be as extreme as some other people!

Here's how I did it:

Tomatoes! They're so cheap right now. These were $1.50 a pound. I wish I could say they were organic, but they're not. They are local though, so that must count for something! Rinse 'em in the sink.

Use a sharp knife to cut an "x" in the bottom. This makes it easier to peel. I've done it with and without and this is easier and only takes a second to do.

Now cut the cores out!

While you're prepping the tomatoes put a pot of water on the stove to boil. Mine is covered in spots because I never bother to thoroughly clean the outside of the pot (hey it never touches the food right?).

Get a bowl of ice water ready. This isn't ice water. This is cold water with four measly little ice cubes floating in it, but I only have one ice cube tray and it was almost empty. I made two batches of tomato sauce on two separate days and the second time I made it I skipped the ice altogether and just refilled the bowl with really cold tap water in between tomatoes and that worked just fine.

Plunge a few tomatoes at a time into the boiling water. Most places say 30 seconds is long enough, but I always go for a full minute. They're going to be cooked soon anyway so who cares if you cook them a little bit now.

Cute picture of what Eli was doing while I was working. I thought, I should stop him and take the tea away from him, but he's not hurting anything and it's keeping him distracted. Then he smashed my tea canister and I deeply regretted that decision.

Back to the tomatoes: remove from the boiling water and put them into the "ice" water. My ice melted completely the first tomatoes I put in. You'll get a rhythm going after a bit. Three tomatoes into boiling water. Set timer for one minute. Pull tomatoes out of ice water, peel, throw them into a bowl. Take tomatoes out of boiling water and put into cold water. Repeat.

The peels will slide right off. All you have to do is get over how totally gross it feels. And looks.

Peeled tomatoes!

Toss a few at a time into the blender. Unless you don't mind chunky tomatoes, in which case you can just give 'em a rough chop or even toss them into the pot whole. I hate chunky tomatoes. It makes me want to vomit, so I blend them really well. Now you can cut each tomato in half and scoop or squeeze out the juice and seeds, but I'm lazy and don't care if there are seeds in it. As long as there are no chunks, I'm good.

Yummy blended tomatoes! Just kidding, this is actually disgusting. And the photo makes it look red but it's actually more of a pale pink. Seriously gross.

Now it's time to turn it into tomato sauce! Pour it into a pot and boil it down until it thickens slightly. I try to skim some of the foam off the top because I read that most of the impurities in food will rise to the top in the foam so it's better if you skim it. I also used a slotted spoon to scoop through it and get out any chunks that didn't get blended. Did I mention that I hate chunks of tomato in my food?

While that's simmering, get the jars ready! I washed them in soap and water and put them in the oven at 225 degrees for at least 10 minutes thanks to a tip from a friend (Thanks Holly!). This was a lot easier than getting out several more pots to boil everything, or running the entire dishwasher just for a few jars. I left them in the oven for about 20 minutes then turned the oven off but still left them in there until I needed them. You'll notice I've got five jars there. That was overly optimistic, this only filled three. I made a bigger batch another day.

Some stuff that is handy but not necessary (do you like my beautiful painted countertop? Joys of living in an apartment...). Well, I would almost say the jar funnel is necessary unless you have some serious talent when it comes to pouring stuff into jars. The rest of it is convenient sometimes but I just as often pull on a pair of oven mitts and just use that to pull the jars out. Then take them off and thoughtlessly grab the hot jar with my bare hands to move it closer to the pot. Every. Time.

I don't have a special canning pot with a rack inside, so I use a regular pot and I like to put a dishtowel in the bottom before I fill it with water. There's no special or fancy reason for this except that it keeps the jars from rattling on the bottom while it's boiling because that sound drives me CRAZY.

Put the jars into the pot and fill it up with water. This is wrong. The water is supposed to come up to at least an inch over the top of the jar, but as you can see my pot isn't big enough. I'm willing to take that risk but you probably shouldn't. Anyway bring this to a rapid boil, put the lid on and boil rapidly for 35 minutes. Then take the lid off, let it stand for five minutes, lift the jars out (this is where those jar lifting tongs come in very handy!) and put them somewhere they can be undisturbed. I put mine on top of the fridge. Then just leave them alone for 24 hours. You should hear the "pop" of the lids sealing fairly soon after you take them out. A couple of mine popped almost as soon as I took the lid off the pot. After they've sat for 24 hours test to make sure they're sealed by pushing on the lids. If it doesn't pop in and out, it's good to go.

I plan on using these tomatoes anywhere I would normally use canned tomatoes - in soups, sauces, chili, etc. I saved money, avoided - at least for the most part because I think there is some in the plastic on the lids - the BPA, and feel good about doing something with my own hands.

Linking up to The Purposed Heart and these other blog hops...

A Bicycle Built for Eli

2011-09-08T13:40:00.004-03:00

My son has a bit of an obsession. Ok, a huge obsession.

Bikes.

Be it your traditional bicycle, a tricycle, a scooter, a four wheeler, a dirt bike, a motorcycle, a unicycle, or even a ride-on lawn mower they're all "Bike!" and they are all awe-inspiring for my almost-two-year-old. He's fascinated. Transfixed. He can think of nothing else. Well, except for the occasional car or truck. Those catch his attention sometimes, but is quickly usurped by the presence of a bike, real or imaginary.

Luckily for him, we live above a gas station. Several times a day during the summer, there's usually a motorcycle or an ATV parked outside where he can stand at the window and stare at it. Let me present as evidence this short clip of him doing just that.

See what I mean? He gets momentarily distracted by a truck going by, but the bike is the real focus here. Also sorry about the lack of pants. We're still potty training around here.

He's also trained himself to have incredibly sensitive hearing when it comes to motorcycles. He can hear one coming a mile away and will immediately perk up. "Bike!?" he'll say. I'll have to stop and listen since my hearing is not that selective, and nine times out of ten he's right. The other 10% of the time it's just a truck, which is pretty exciting too.

He also likes to play bike. At first he used his little ride on car that he's almost outgrown. Then the back of the couch, then Mommy or Daddy was his bike. Then - now brace yourself, this is kind of sad - the other day I noticed this.

That's the stand for his little piano, in case you were wondering. I didn't catch it on video but he was even making "vroom vroom" noises. Pathetic.

Originally I had thought that I would wait until next summer before getting him a bicycle of his own. Winter is fast approaching and he's still pretty small. But this obsession convinced me to get him one sooner.

That's why I am so excited about what is hiding under a blanket in the spare room. The anticipation is killing me.

His very own little running bicycle. As an added bonus, it was 50% off! Good thing, because these aren't cheap. They're regularly $60! I can tell you I was praising God as I was leaving Sportchek.

I'm not sure I can wait until Tuesday to give this to him. I cannot wait to see the look on his face when we wheel this out, and to hear his chirpy little voice say "Bike!"

This verse came to mind with fresh understanding:

If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! ~ Matthew 7:11

Now that Cory and I are parents, there is new light shed on this verse. I do know how to give good gifts to my child. I know what he wants, what his passions and desires are, where his interest lies. It's bikes for now, in a few months it will probably be something else, but it's so much fun to be able to give him something that he wants so much. Cory commented when I brought the bike inside and we were hiding it that it really is more blessed to give than to receive. I've always known that verse, but secretly deep down I still really liked receiving. Now I understand how exciting it is to bless someone else, especially when that someone is your sweet little boy who you love with all your heart.

We're having friends over for lunch after church on Sunday and having a little "party" for Eli. I think we'll bring out the bike then, and let him go riding at the school playground with the bigger boys in the afternoon. I can't wait!

Baked Soaked Oatmeal

2011-09-04T21:29:00.000-03:00

Since you asked me for my Baked Soaked Oatmeal recipe, Holly, this is for you!

Topped with fresh local blueberries and cream... yum!

Soaking oatmeal before cooking is a great way to neutralize phytic acid - an enzyme inhibitor present in most grains - and boost the nutritional value of your breakfast. Plus it just tastes better!

Baked Soaked Oatmeal

The night before, or up to 24 hours before (depending on how good at planning ahead you are), in an 8x8 dish stir together:

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup plain yogurt

1/2 cup water

In the morning, add and stir together:

2 eggs

1/2 cup melted butter

1/3 cup honey or maple syrup

pinch of salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup "add ins" - fresh or dried fruit, coconut, almonds, chopped apples, even chocolate chips if you so fancy. Or just leave this out entirely.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. It comes out with a soft, almost bread pudding-like texture. Serve it up warm and treat it like you would oatmeal. Drizzle some maple syrup, pour on the cream, add raisins or berries and enjoy.

Star Struck

2011-09-03T12:48:00.000-03:00

I'll be posting soon about all my efforts to store up food this fall since things are now in season and so cheap. I'm hoping to save us some money (and keep BPA lined cans out of my cupboard!) over the winter by doing this now, but my days of late have been spent cooking, canning and processing so that's why the lack of posts!

For right now though I wanted to post briefly about our trip to PEI last weekend.

Blurry pic of my husband, my son... and Joshua Harris!

A confession: I've grown up in Nova Scotia, lived in New Brunswick for the past three years, and had never been to Prince Edward Island. I know, that's kind of embarrassing.

So when we found out that Grace Baptist Church in Charlottetown was hosting a Bible Conference and that they had gotten Joshua Harris to come speak, we were beyond excited. We packed up the two kids and drove the 4 hours to the island.

Every time we stop Eli begs to be allowed to "drive" the car.

Even though Cory and I had very different upbringings, we were both influenced by Joshua Harris' books and teaching in our teen years. For Cory, his book I Kissed Dating Goodbye was the first Christian book he ever read (other than the Bible!) after becoming a Christian at 17. It had a huge impact on him, not just the perspective on dating and purity in relationships, but also just the idea of putting God foremost in your life and making your relationship with him your highest priority. I was taught to make my relationship with Christ central to my life from the time I was born, but it was a relatively new concept for Cory, written in a way that was clear and applicable to him. Turning his focus from girls to God was a huge help to his Christian walk and I'm very thankful for that, since I'm the beneficiary of this life change!

We found a playground.

I too read I Kissed Dating Goodbye as a teenager, but I was younger when I read it, around 13 or 14 I think. It impacted me too, but the video series we did as a youth group, watching Josh speak and teach on the subject of dating and relationships, is what I remember most. His second book, Boy Meets Girl, was part of my homeschool curriculum one year and I really enjoyed it. Even though I did have a boyfriend all through highschool, my heart and my attitude about the purpose of dating was always in the right place, even if I was sometimes somewhat misguided. I knew why I was in a relationship (to pursue the possibility of marriage) and would never have considered dating someone who didn't meet the criteria.

Stuck halfway down the slide.

After we were married, Cory and I both read Stop Dating the Church, which has since been rewritten and renamed Why Church Matters. Even though we were both already thoroughly convinced of the importance of the established church as the bride of Christ, it was a great reminder of why we believe that, and pointed out ways in which we don't always live out that belief.

He LOVED this thing. I wasn't sure these were even legal anymore, I hadn't seen one since I was 5 or 6.

All this is just to say that... we were excited to go hear him speak, in person! And he did not disappoint. We were only able to attend two of the five sessions because of Cory's work and having to get back to our own church for Sunday, but they were two of the best messages I've ever heard. Convicting, interesting, and thoroughly Biblical. It was great to meet fellow Christians from PEI and beyond who had gathered to see him speak, and it was very cool just to be able to shake his hand and say hello, something neither of us ever thought we would get to do - especially here in the Maritimes! Since the sessions were just in the evening we were able to spend the day on Saturday exploring the island.

Enjoying one of the beautiful beaches in the National Park.

I apologize for these grainy, blurry cell phone pictures from the weekend. We did pack the camera, but it was in the suitcase and we kept forgetting to take it out!

Water was lovely and warm.

All four of us had a wonderful time. PEI was amazingly beautiful, just like I've always been told. I'm looking forward to going back someday... maybe when the kids are older and don't require so many naps and diaper changes!

TA DA!

2011-08-30T14:36:00.000-03:00

I'm SO excited to reveal my totally re-done blog.

I can't praise h. rae enough for her great work in doing this entire design for me. She even came up with the new title!

So welcome to the new and improved Gourmet Mommy. I'm looking forward to sharing more recipes and more photos with everyone, and Cory's been encouraging me to start doing some vlogs or video recipes and uploading them here. We'll see what happens with that and I won't make any promises I can't keep, but it would be fun!

Heather is still accepting FREE custom blog design requests for a few more days, so head over to An Original Belle if you are interested. She's great to work with, and does designs that range from elegant and flowery to clean and modern. You should definitely check out her work.

A Few Recipes and Some Changes

2011-08-25T13:46:00.000-03:00

We've been eating some yummy food around here of late, so I thought I'd share. A few days ago with virtually no food in the house I was scraping around to try to come up with something for lunch, since we had just arrived back from vacation, I hadn't had a chance to get groceries yet and it was pouring SHEETS of rain and I didn't want to get drenched walking to the farmers market (across the street...).

So I threw together a quick, delicious pantry meal of Mexican Black Beans and Quinoa. At least that's what I'm calling it.

In a medium sized pot, heat 2 cups homemade chicken or vegetable stock to boiling. Add 1 cup quinoa, put the lid on and simmer for 20 minutes.

While that's simmering, in a medium or large cast iron pan heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Add 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, minced, and one can of black beans, drained and rinsed (or the equivalent of dry beans, soaked and cooked). Add sea salt and pepper to taste, 1/2 tsp cumin and 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes. Saute until it's all heated through.

When the timer goes for the quinoa, dump it into the skillet with the beans and add 1/3 cup of your favourite salsa. Stir around until everything is warm and delicious. Check for salt, then serve it up. Yum!

Another delicious supper was this Chow Mein recipe from Rightthinker. It was really, super, fantastically yummy. I will be making this over and over again. What a great way to get coconut oil and cabbage - two super-good-for-you foods - into your diet.

Last night we had Potato Leek Pizza from the Pioneer Woman cookbook. It sounds weird, but thinly sliced potato makes a surprisingly delicious pizza topping. Add bacon and sauteed leeks and mozzarella on a homemade whole wheat crust and you're in pizza heaven.

Last but not least was lunch today. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I had to restrain myself in order to snap this picture.

Cold Cucumber Soup! Now before you run screaming away from your computer screen, give it a chance. It's cool, refreshing, very simple to make and a great way to use up some of those cucumbers that are so cheap right now. I got three HUGE local cucumbers across the road today for only a dollar. Can't beat that price!

Inspiration came from this youtube video from Working Class Foodies. I watched the video, blog-hopped a bit to see what other people have done, and came up with my own version (of course!). Here's my recipe:

Cucumber Gazpacho

Into the pitcher of your blender, add:

3 large cucumbers, peeled, seeded and chopped (6-7 cups)
1/4 white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbps fresh dill weed
1 tbps fresh parsley
1 large avacado, pitted, skinned and chopped
1 cup homemade chicken stock (or vegetable for vegetarian)
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
4-5 drops Tabasco sauce
1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

Blend until smooth, then chill for an hour before serving. Drizzle bowls with olive oil, eat with crackers or toast.

Eli kept complaining that it was "hot" (spicy) but don't listen to him, he's a wimp. He ate his whole bowl anyway, so it can't have been too hot. I love tzatziki sauce, so this was kind of like tzatziki in soup form. It doesn't have a ton of protein though, and I'm kind of a protein junky so I'm having some cheese and crackers right now to round off my lunch.

In other news, I'm currently working with the wonderful h. rae from An Original Belle on a new custom blog design. She does great work and I'm thrilled with what she's come up with so far. She's fast too, so I don't imagine it will be too much longer before everything is ready and up (though I am going to be gone for the weekend, so probably not until next week). Keep your eyes open for a totally new design and even a new blog title! I've always hated "The Vail Family" because it's pretty lame, but I'm terrible at coming up with something else. She even helped me with that process and I'm so excited to introduce it to you all. She just sent me a sneak peek and I couldn't be happier with her design. I can't wait for you all to see it!

My Favourite Cookies

2011-08-23T12:54:00.000-03:00

Not a great picture, but these are the cookies I made myself for my birthday this year instead of a cake. They are my favourite cookies of all time. My younger sister makes them for me whenever we come visit and I eat WAY too many of them. Please note that these are not healthy whatsoever. They have no redeeming qualities. If you've followed my blog for any length of time you'll know that I absolutely love taking unhealthy recipes and tweaking them to make them reasonably healthy - replacing sugar with natural sweeteners, using whole wheat flour etc., but not these. These cookies I love in all their terrible unhealthiness. That being said I did use organic sugar and unbleached, organic flour - but that doesn't really help much when using such large quantities of them!

At any rate, here's the recipe. I hope I'm not breaking any copyright laws by posting it here, but it's just too good not to share.

Chocolate Eclipse Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup white chocolate chips

Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and creamy.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture, beating until blended. Divide dough in half.

Stir melted chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate chips into one portion of dough. Stir white chocolate chips into other portion.

Take a small spoonful of each dough and roll together into a 1-inch ball. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 8 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet, then transfer to rack and cool completely.

Makes about 5 dozen.

And oh man are they ever good. Here's my favourite cookie tip: use parchment paper. I know it can be expensive, but it is completely and totally worth it. The parchment seems to absorb any excess oil from the cookies and leaves you with perfectly chewy crisp cookies every time.

I had a bit of trouble getting the two doughs to work out evenly, I ended up with 8 or 10 all dark chocolate cookies at the end because I used more of the dark dough than the white. But that's not really a problem. My sister gets it perfect every time. Honestly, her cookies are even better than mine, but mine were pretty good too!

For a special (special!) treat, these cookies are the best. Hope you give it a try, let me know if you do!

Profile Pics

2011-08-16T14:00:00.000-03:00

Sometimes it's funny to look back at old pictures and see how much you've changed. Since Facebook hit while I was in Grade 12, I can look back and see all my old profile pictures right from when I first created my account. The past 5 years have seen more changes in my life than at any other time, so here is a small sampling. My life, in Facebook profile pictures.

My grad photo. I'm 17 years old and had absolutely no appreciation for how skinny I was. Oh Grade 12 Emily... enjoy that 120lbs. And don't cut that lovely hair, you'll regret it a week later.

Ah, prom. It's not as exciting as you think it's going to be. Still a fun night though, no regrets there!

Now, 18-year-old Emily, who is that fellow you're sitting quite close to after only 2 months of university? (Note: it's a Halloween Party. He really didn't dress like that in university! I on the other hand, actually did wear those earrings quite often...)

Only been dating a few months but had pictures done at Walmart for Christmas. How presumptuous of us.

His graduation, right before he left to plant trees all summer while I worked at a remote tourist destination. We wrote letters. I didn't know it, but at the time this photo was taken he had already bought me a ring. Just took another three months to get it!

Both tanned from the summer spent working outdoors. So excited to be starting our life together!

Two months later. Married to the most wonderful man alive. Also, check out that waistline! Haven't seen that in a while...

Almost a year later. I'm 37 weeks pregnant with our first, our sweet Eli Allen.

And there he is outside of my body. What an amazing experience to become a mother for the first time!

And here he is turning one! An entire year shot by while I wasn't paying attention.

Pregnant again! Here's our little family, five weeks before number two.

And even though it seemed like he would NEVER come out, he finally did. Another precious boy, my little Theophilus Ian.

And lastly, a picture from just over a month ago. Our family of four.

Even since the last picture was taken things have changed. Theo ditched the soother and almost doubled his weight. Eli started potty training, I've slimmed down (a little!) and Cory... well, actually he still looks the same!

I had no idea when I first created my Facebook account over 5 years ago what my life was going to have in store so very quickly, but I like that I can look back and remember. I wouldn't have chosen any other path, God's way was the best!

Camping

2011-08-15T13:11:00.000-03:00

The view from the front window

This weekend we took a trip to Cory's dad's Camp. If you are like me and don't know what I'm referring to when I say a "camp," I mean a cabin, or cottage. I think it's a New Brunswick thing to call it a "Camp," because growing up in Nova Scotia I had never heard of the expression. We always took trips to the Cabin. But around here, we go to the Camp.

Theo loves the wrap, asleep almost before I finish tying it!

It's beautiful there. It's a (heart pounding) 20 minute drive in from the road by ATV, over terrain that I had no idea an ATV could go over. There's no electricity, but there's a propane run stove and fridge, gas lights, a chemical toilet and running water from the rain barrels. There's even a battery run TV, and they get better reception than we do! This is good for me, since I'm really not into going without the modern comforts of life. I like the peace and quiet and remoteness of the camp, but I'm not a fan of outhouses.

Cory's Dad manning the grill

Even though we were only there for two nights, we made the most of it. Swimming, a short hike, relaxing, an evening around the bonfire, it was wonderful!

Eli roasting his first ever marshmallow

Hopefully we'll be able to go back sometime this fall, maybe for Thanksgiving. In the meantime, I have to unpack everything from our weekend away, wash all our clothes, and re-pack for our trip to Nova Scotia on Wednesday. We'll get back from NS just in time for me to unpack, wash, and re-pack for our trip to PEI. We're going to a Bible conference to see Joshua Harris speak. We're very excited since we probably won't get a chance like this again any time soon - "famous" speakers don't frequent the Maritimes - but Cory is trying to convince me that we should leave Eli with his mother. I'm torn. Part of me knows that if we bring Eli along, I will spend the sessions in the church nursery with him instead of getting to hear the speaker, and he would probably be happier spending a couple days with his Nanny rather than driving 5 hours and going to a conference, but my emotions balk at the thought of my little boy being so far away from me for two days. Nothing is decided yet, we still don't even know if Lynn can take him, but it's going to be hard if we decide to leave him here. I will miss him so very much.

My cool dude, sans pants because he took a dive into the lake fully clothed!

Thrift

2011-08-12T10:33:00.000-03:00

Just a quick post to get this off my mind - my latest thrifty endeavor for using the trimmings from preparing vegetables. Ever get tired of the waste when you're chopping veggies for a meal? I do. So I've started keeping a bag full of vegetable trimmings in the freezer, then when I make stock I can add it all in for a much more flavourful, nutritious stock. Honestly I could never stand putting whole carrots and onions in a chicken stock because it seemed like such a waste when you don't end up eating them. So now, when I cut up an onion for dinner I put the tops into the freezer bag. Same with carrot ends, celery, even the little woody part you cut off the end of a clove of garlic.

We love asparagus in this house but it hurts me to have to break off almost a third of the stalk because it's too woody. Now I can use it for stock! Same with leeks, you only use about half of a leek but the rest is great in vegetable stock. How about green onions, potato peelings, zucchini ends, kale stems - the possibilities are as numerous as the vegetables you use. And as yummy!

I had to leave you with this mental image - Eli is in full potty training mode (and doing quite well!) so he's trotting around the house naked from the waist down. I'm packing for our weekend at the camp, so I've been digging through closets for camping gear and he discovered my old stash of high-heeled shoes from my university days (needless to say these do not see any use anymore, I really must get around to giving them to someone who will wear them!). He's a little shoe obsessed right now, so he's doing his best to wobble around in mismatched heels in nothing but a t-shirt. It's so funny to watch! For modesty's sake I will refrain from posting a picture, and instead leave you with this image of the two brothers. They are so sweet together!

Home Again

2011-08-03T14:17:00.000-03:00

We're back from our vacation! Waterski Camp was great. We're tired, tanned, and happy. Our camera remained in the bottom of our suitcase all week and never saw the light of day, so this is a photo I nabbed from Facebook. This is Eli learning to drive the "boop," as he called it. I think this was his favourite part of the entire week, that and the kiddy pool. He also went for a ride in the tube with Daddy, his face very serious the whole time. I couldn't tell whether he was having fun or was terrified, but when we stopped after about 10 minutes and pulled the tube back to the boat he started babbling excitedly and laughing. I think he liked it.

Cory volunteered as a counselor for the week, while my role was purely taking care of our kids. It was a busy week with staff kids, I think there were 14 in total, from little Theo up to the almost-twelve year olds who will get to be campers next year.

Waterski Camp is a really great ministry. It's run entirely by volunteers, mostly family units. Parents work driving boats, doing property maintenance, working in the kitchen etc., older kids are campers and younger ones play, swim, and have a little Bible time of their own. Even though it's hard work, it's a great way to vacation. I think that serving together as a family is such a great way to spend our vacation time.

We came back just in time for a busy, hectic weekend. We went straight from camp to a funeral of a friend's mom (praise God we know where she is!), and Cory had to fill in on Sunday morning for a local pastor on vacation.

Monday was... Monday. It was New Brunswick Day, a holiday, so Cory didn't have to work. This was a blessing since he was so exhausted from camp and the weekend, but I tried to take the boys into Saint John to get some food to restock our empty fridge. The city is 45 minutes from our home. I drove 25 minutes only to have Eli throw up his breakfast all over himself. I really think we're starting to deal with carsickness here. It was a huge, disgusting mess and all I had to clean it up was baby wipes. We pulled over, I got Eli out of the car and stripped his clothes off and tried to wipe up him and the carseat as best I could. Of course there was vomit all over the carseat buckles, making it necessary for me to get it all over my hands in order to get him out. Not pleasant. We turned around and drove the 25 minutes back home, left Eli with Cory, then drove all the way into town with just Theo this time. Got some food, came home, ate some lunch, got back in the car and drove an hour and a half to a friend's house for a family gathering. Not our family - theirs - but they are like family to us! That little get-together was a huge blessing to Cory and I. So thankful for good friends.

Yesterday was groceries, I didn't even risk taking Eli with me this time, I left him at his Nanny's! I still always feel a bit guilty leaving him behind, but I need to get over it. At this point in his life he has much more fun playing at Nanny's than he would driving in the car (potentially throwing up!) and shopping for groceries, and besides which my mother-in-law loves to spend time with him. This visit he fell off a chair and got his first black eye!

He's fine though, it had to happen sometime. He is a boy after all! You can see it's not very bad.

And today? As if I didn't have enough busyness in my life, today I decided to start potty training a little more intensively. And we had our first pee in the potty! HOORAY! I've never been so excited about someone else's pee before in my life. It's only been the morning, and we had one pee in the potty and three on the floor. Thankfully none were on carpet - yet. I put a diaper on him for naptime, and after his nap we'll tackle it again. We're going the totally naked route, just to make things easier. We'll transition to underwear after he gets a little better at figuring out what he's supposed to do. According to my friend Google, three days of total nudity is the best way to kickstart potty training. So I'm going to try it for three days. If we don't seem to make any progress then maybe I'll try again in a few months, but I remain hopeful. Since it's such a battle to make him keep diapers on I'm eager to just eliminate the need for them.

I didn't talk much about Theo in this post, but Theo is just... Theo. He doesn't do much yet except hang out and look totally adorable!

Fatter Thursday

2011-07-21T21:35:00.000-03:00

Today is my birthday! So that's a good excuse for why I ate out three times today, right?

My beloved is working the night shift right now, so in the morning as I was whipping up our healthy breakfast smoothie, he called and told me he was bringing me breakfast. Yum! I did finish making the smoothie, so at least I got in some servings of fruits and vegetables this morning. The smoothie WAS really healthy - raw milk, yogurt, flax seed oil, apple, carrot, kale, spinach, raspberry and blueberry. So maybe that balances the Bagel B.E.L.T. from Tim Horton's? Ok maybe not.

At any rate, after breakfast and lots of birthday phone calls from my parents, dear friend Ashley, and grandparents, I dropped Eli off at Nanny's and Theo and I drove to Grand Bay to meet friends for lunch. I share a birthday with another woman in our church - Lilly - a bit of an interesting character. Birthdays are VERY IMPORTANT to her, so nobody ever forgets because she reminds us all year long! She was turning 61 this year, and while my birthday does get a little overshadowed because of her, I really don't mind because I don't exactly like being the very centre of attention, but at the same time it's nice that no one ever forgets because Lilly will remind everyone constantly that it's my birthday too! We went to Pizza Delight because it has an "eat free on your birthday" program so we go there to celebrate every year.

So lunch was a panzarotti (spelling?) and a caesar salad with way too much dressing. After lunch and a coffee at Tim's, Theo and I headed into the city to get some last minute things for Waterski Camp next week! I needed a few pairs of shorts to wear because I don't fit into any of mine, Eli needed a sunhat, Cory needed a new pair of shorts, Theo needed a swimsuit, and most of all we needed some more diapers. I cloth diaper Theo at home but not when we're out, and Eli's skin is too sensitive for cloth anymore. I don't do cloth diapers at camp because, while there is a washer and dryer available, I really don't like to impose and I know it still grosses some people out to have diapers washed in the same machine. It's just easier anyway for one week.

Guess what the one thing I forgot to buy was.

We'll have to pick some up on Saturday on our way to Moncton. We're going there for a friend's wedding, staying the night, visiting the church we used to attend while we were in university there and then heading to camp.

I also tried to find a bathing suit for myself for next week. Complete and utter failure on that front. Somewhat demoralizing. I do still own a bikini that I bought in a fit of teenage rebellion and then only had the nerve to wear once or twice before it retired behind a t-shirt and shorts permanently. I guess it'll have to be that next week - well covered of course! I felt like asking the clerk where they keep the bathing suits that are for women who have HAD BABIES, but apparently they don't make those. On all other clothing fronts though, I had success, thanks to my fave clothing line, Joe Fresh! Some longer but still stylish shorts that FIT.

Theo was fussy and difficult this entire time, refusing to sleep and crying every time we stopped moving. He wasn't hungry, I nursed him in the car before going into the restaurant, three times during lunch, once during coffee at Tim's, in the change room at Superstore, in the "Mother's Lounge" at the mall, then in the car at Walmart before we went home. No wonder he's pudgy.

By the time we were done all this shopping and nursing, it was after five and I was starving again, but Theo had finally fallen asleep in the car. So it was McDonald's drive thru. I would normally get the salad but it's a bit difficult to eat when you're driving. McMini's it was. And that is how I ate out three times on my birthday. And why this is not Thinner Thursday as per usual, but Fatter Thursday.

We'll be gone all next week, but then I'll be back and posting again! I want to share my new favourite cookie recipe that I made myself for my birthday and ate way too many of. I'll leave you with a rather random photo of the birthday present that I got this year, my new KitchenAid blender! Well, just the pitcher. It's full of yummy vegetables that I whizzed up and made into a delicious tomato sauce for our pork curry the other night. Yum!

This post is linked up to Thinner Thursday over at Mommy Miracles.

He's Growing Up...

2011-07-20T14:46:00.000-03:00

(photo by my friend Holly)

Here's my big boy at our annual Church Picnic this past weekend. He's been making this scowling face more and more often lately but he really was having a great time, believe it or not. We have our picnic at "Oma and Opa's pond," Oma and Opa being a couple in our church affectionately known by those names by their eight grandchildren and everyone else! While the bigger kids swam in the pond there were three small kiddy pools set out for the little ones. Eli took immense delight in sitting in one pool, then climbing out and into the next one for a little while, then into the next one and so on. When the bigger kids got into a huge water fight - which inevitably happens every year - Eli watched them solemnly for a while, then picked up a cup and started methodically and very seriously scooping up the water and pouring it over another little girl's head. At only 13 months she was too little to defend herself, poor thing. Oma was quick to correct this behaviour as soon as she noticed, and Eli moved on to another game to amuse himself, but the incident certainly made me laugh. His careful, serious imitation of the older kids and teenagers was too cute.

I was worried about sunburn that afternoon, I realized as I was getting things ready that I don't yet have a sunhat that fits him, and I feel very strongly about the use of high chemical sunscreens (besides the fact that I don't even think they're very effective), but I also didn't want him to get burnt. I prayed that he would be ok and not get burnt, and despite the fact that he spent a good 3 1/2 hours in direct sunlight with no sunscreen, no hat and bare arms he wasn't even the slightest tinge of pink. The irony is that I sat in the shade with Theo and got sunburnt on my arms and back. I should have remembered to pray that I wouldn't burn either!

My little boy is also talking more and more each day. You wouldn't know it if you only knew him in public, because he refuses to say a word the minute we step outside the house, but at home he's becoming quite a little chatterbox, finally moving into words with two syllables or more than one sound, and here and there even stringing two words together. He says milk like it's two words, "Mill...K" and the K is less of a K sound and more like a click of his tongue. He can say his brother's name now too. He normally calls him "Fee," but with prompting he'll say "Fee... OH." Not to mention his newest phrase which I taught him yesterday - "stinkin' hot," pronounced "Tink... OT." (Can you guess what our weather has been like?) Phrases like "Dad shoes," "hat off," "spoon/fork stuck," or "more milk/food/raisins" are cropping up too. While this is a lot of fun, and it's nice that he's learning so much, I already miss my sweet little baby when I look back at photos.

It's amazing how much they change, here he is almost exactly one year ago, just after his first real haircut. What an adorable age that was! I'm so thankful that God has blessed me with another sweet little boy to watch go through that stage again. I hope he blesses us with many more!

Long Day

2011-07-16T20:32:00.000-03:00

It's been a long day. Some parts good - other parts could have been better.

My poor husband is still sick. It's been over a week now, and he's been flat out with a nasty cold. Eli and I caught it too, but recovered in a day or two. Cory's still working the night shift, 10-12 hours every night and he just can't seem to get better. His sleeping pattern is all messed up too. So when I got up this morning he had already been awake for several hours, but was feeling a lot better! I whipped us up some smoothies for breakfast and then at his request we went for a walk around Beulah. It's so nice to have someone else push the stroller for once! We enjoyed the fresh air and the sunshine, then came home and packed up the boys to go to town for some errands.

We were all the way to the West side of the city when Eli puked up his breakfast all over himself. Lovely. We were shocked because he had showed no signs of being sick, and it's not like him - this was only the second time he'd thrown up in his entire little life! He seemed fine afterwards, so we figured it must be car sickness. He's never been carsick before but I guess it has to start sometime. We cleaned him off as best we could with wipes, but his clothes were covered in puke. I used it as an excuse to get him a new little Joe Fresh outfit from Superstore. I love their clothes. So we dressed him in his new outfit, did our errands, then grabbed some lunch from Arbys and started driving back toward home. Since he seemed absolutely FINE now, and was very hungry, I gave him some french fries.

In retrospect, this was probably not a good idea. He munched them down happily and then threw up all over himself again. All over his brand new outfit. Again, I cleaned him off as best I could with wipes - my own lunch not sitting too well in my stomach after all this puking - and we drove home. Once home we stripped him and put him down for a nap with his water bottle. He slept for three hours!

Cory went to sleep too, and I proceeded to: put groceries away, nurse Theo and get him down for his nap, clean up the puke in the car, take the padding off Eli's carseat and wash it, wash all puked on clothes, take the garbage out, empty and load the dishwasher, clean up the kitchen and get chicken stock simmering to make soup for dinner.

The kids woke up when I was trying to get the veggies cut up for supper. Theo's grumpiest time of day is right around supper time and through the early evening until bedtime. I asked Cory to take him for a bit while I got supper ready. While I was making supper and Cory was soothing Theo, Eli decided to empty out our bedroom garbage and spread its contents across our room. After I got THAT cleaned up, we ate supper. Thankfully the chicken noodle soup seemed to be just what Eli needed, he ate two big bowls of it and kept it down no problem.

After supper I got Eli bathed and in bed, Theo nursed and in bed, then tackled the kitchen. It's our church picnic tomorrow, so I had to make a pasta salad and a blackberry cobbler. And divide up the extra stock I made for freezing.

Anyway, it's all done now and I am FINALLY relaxing on the couch with my favourite snack: multigrain tostitos, guacamole and club soda. My feet ache and my back hurts, but I made it through the day with only one minor meltdown. I wish Cory would feel better. I really miss him.

UGH

2011-07-15T22:23:00.000-03:00

I keep messing around with my blog layout and I CANNOT seem to be happy with it. I wish I knew more about making it look nice and web design! My Dad is a web design genius so maybe I should sit down with him sometime and get him to help me. For now though, sorry for the constant changing and switching things around. I just need to pick something and commit to it...

Yoga

2011-07-14T09:47:00.000-03:00

My whole body hurts. I've been working SO HARD the past couple weeks, but I'm pleased to report that I've managed to shed another 4lbs. It's been a lot of work, but it's definitely worth it to see the weight dropping off. I've always had a pretty easy time losing weight - I lost 35lbs after Eli was born by doing nothing. But that took a lot longer. Working out is hard, but it's paying off and it's kind of addictive. I'm enjoying pushing myself and surprised at how much I can actually handle. Plus my energy levels have been fantastic.

So just to report: lots of walks around Beulah pushing the boys, a few walks out the back road but I've been trying to run short sections of that. I've never been much of a runner and frankly I'm not really that interested in running, I find it pretty boring and it is the only exercise on the planet that irritates my very mild asthma, but the walk itself isn't really enough of a workout for me anymore so I feel the need to push myself. Don't expect to see this girl running races anytime soon though, not really my style. I've done my Bootcamp DVD a few more times, and pulled out my yoga DVD. It's designed for first trimester pregnancy, but it still works and it's a nice gentle yoga routine. What is NOT nice and gentle is my newest addition to my workout collection - Bob Harper's Weight Loss Yoga. I did the first level last night and was sweating, shaking, and my left leg even gave out a couple times. It's an excellent workout - challenging, fun, and I love that it's real people demonstrating in the background. They're all former contestants on the Biggest Loser, and all at different fitness levels. It's kind of nice to actually be thinner and in better shape than some of the people demonstrating!

On the food front, now that my new blender is here I've been able to start drinking some smoothies again! Smoothies are great things for getting in multiple servings of fruit, veggies, greens, and all sorts of other good stuff. After my workout this evening I made one with raw milk, yogurt, cream, a raw egg, some flax oil, frozen blueberries and a bit of stevia to sweeten. YUM. I've never tried the egg before because in my head I thought it would be slimy or something, but actually it kind of foams up the smoothie and makes it taste even better. So incredibly good for you too! I also used my blender to make supper tonight. I made Borscht! I had never heard of it before until watching this video, and I knew I wanted to try it as soon as I saw it. It was delicious. I added a carrot and a stalk of celery to mine too, just to round it out, and topped with homemade sour cream and a drizzle of olive oil.

And that's my update for this week. I'm really enjoying the accountability of "Thinner Thursdays" - the thought of posting this blog every week is actually a good motivator to keep pushing myself!

Starting Weight: 150lbs
Current Weight: 142lbs
Lost: 8lbs
Still to go: 7lbs to Goal #1, 17lbs to Goal #2

This post is linked up to Thinner Thursday over at Mommy Miracles.

Happily Employed

2011-07-12T13:38:00.000-03:00

I love my job. Let me reiterate: I love my job. I thought that I loved my job when I worked as a bank teller. In hindsight, I really liked that job, but I didn't love it. I LOVE being a stay-at-home wife and mother. I find so much pleasure and fulfillment in keeping house, cooking meals, and taking care of my two boys!

This isn't to say that there aren't moments when I wish that the laundry would fold itself, or that Eli would stop whining, or that we lived closer to take-out. But most of the time I am so happy with my life at home that it doesn't even feel like work to me.

Today, with a cool, fresh breeze blowing in through my windows and my sweet boys down for their nap, I can't imagine anything I would rather do than turn on a sermon and sit and fold laundry. I'm not even being sarcastic!

I never thought I would be this type. My childhood was filled with dreams of motherhood, yes, but also fabulous riches, a big-city life and a house that kept itself clean. Reality is surprisingly much more satisfying.

Can you tell I'm having a good day? My birthday present arrived this morning [and looks like I bought it just in time, the price increased by $50!], my toddler did not have lunch time total meltdown as he has been doing lately, but instead happily ate all of his soup, a large bowl of coleslaw and wanted more!

Life is great.

Homemade Breakfast Sausage

2011-07-12T09:48:00.000-03:00

I love to keep ziploc baggies of pre-cooked, ground breakfast sausage in my freezer. They are so simple to pull out when I want to make a yummy breakfast skillet in the morning, or add some flavour to a lasagna. I have bought it in the store before, but it's quite expensive, and contains corn starch and corn syrup solids and lots of other nasty unidentifiable stuff. Besides, making your own is SO simple and will save you money!

Hot Breakfast Sausage
2lbs ground pork
2 tbsp poultry seasoning
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp brown sugar (or molasses or honey)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

What I usually do is just throw all this into a skillet and cook it right away, then cool and freeze in individual baggies. This just saves me the pain of mixing all the spices in by hand. But if you want to make sausage patties, you can stir all this in by hand or with your stand mixer, form into patties and then freeze and/or cook as desired. If you have fresh herbs on hand, you can replace some of the poultry seasoning with that. Sage and thyme are fantastic!

I love the "real" taste of this homemade sausage. It's less fatty too, if you buy lean ground pork. You could get all fancy and grind your own meat - I'm going to try that at some point - but for now just buying the packages is much simpler!

Thinner Thursday

2011-07-07T12:16:00.000-03:00

Weighed myself this weekend while I was at my parent's house and... I'm down 4lbs! Very exciting. I'd like to get a digital scale for home though so that I can keep more accurate track of my progress. I find our scale very difficult to read, and it's not very accurate either (always says you're heavier than you actually are!).

Theo on the other hand is UP 4lbs, my chunky little boy weighs in at well over 13lbs now. Eli was only 10lbs at the same age. I'm glad that he's growing well and nursing lots, it makes it easier to shed that weight.

Speaking of Theo, he turned six weeks old yesterday, meaning it's time to get back to more serious workouts. Not that my Beulah walks haven't been serious because trust me - in this heat especially they are - but last night I broke out the workout DVD's again. Eventually I would like to try Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, but for now I'm just starting out with Lindsay Brin's Bootcamp2. It's definitely not as hardcore (I've watched my Mom do Jillian Michaels and it looks TOUGH), but it's a good place to start. It's designed for postpartum moms, so takes into account things like restrengthening your pelvic floor, and being cautious about diastasis recti, which I have. It's an eight week program, so I think after I get through it I'll try out the 30 Day Shred. I might give myself more than 30 days to do it in though, we'll see.

At any rate, last night it was Bootcamp2, and I made it through fine, though I can still feel a bit of looseness in my hips when lying on my back. It's worlds better than a few weeks ago though, so soon enough I'm sure I'll be fine again. I'm going to try to do the DVD at least three times a week. We've got Waterski Camp the end of July so I'll be taking a short hiatus during that, but then back to work.

Oh, and one last thing to brag about - I've walked around Beulah every day this week. I'm trying to go earlier and earlier in the morning to escape the heat, but it's still pretty steamy even at 8 or 9 in the morning. I timed myself today and it took me 50 minutes to go the whole way. Only a couple weeks ago it was over an hour, so I'm pleased with that. I know pushing just Eli before I got pregnant with Theo it took me 40 minutes, so considering the extra weight to push and lack of exercise I'm happy with my time for now. Looking forward to shortening it though!

And of course I couldn't leave you without a recipe! I don't usually buy sausage because it's expensive and usually contains fillers like corn starch (actually I like to make my own - I'll have to write out my recipe in a future post), but Superstore had it on sale this week so I bought a package and used it to make a sort of sausage and potato and vegetable bake.

I cut up and threw into a large bowl:
6-7 new potatoes
1 sweet potato
1 red bell pepper
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1 pkg. mushrooms (rinsed and left whole)

Drizzled it with olive oil, seasoned with sea salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash Herb & Garlic and Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy. Spread it on a foil lined baking sheet and baked at 350 degrees for about an hour. Since my sausage was pre-cooked I simply sliced up 5 links and added them to the baking sheet toward the end just to warm them up, but if you had raw sausage you would obviously add it sooner! Anyway it was very simple and yummy. I love meals that you can prep, throw into the oven and forget about until suppertime.

This post is linked up to Thinner Thursdays over at Mommy Miracles.

Girl Food

2011-07-01T12:30:00.000-03:00

I made Pioneer Woman's quesadillas for dinner on Wednesday. I always try to keep some homemade flour tortillas in the freezer to pull out if I want them, so that part was simple. Mine are 100% whole wheat - works just as well as white! For tonight I sliced a red onion and sauteed in butter until soft and brown, then sliced up a package of white mushrooms and sauteed them in butter with a little red wine. Grab a tortilla, top with grated mozzarella, mushrooms and onions and more mozza, top with another tortilla and then cooked them in coconut oil on medium heat, 2 minutes per side. I kept them warm in the oven while I made more.

And they were SO YUMMY. Ok so I loved them a lot more than Cory did, but come on... cheese, caramelized onion and mushrooms cooked in red wine? Does it get better than that? I don't think so! On the side I made a simple little tomato-cucumber-basil salad with a balsamic vinaigrette - just balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and pepper. Cool, refreshing and very yummy.

It was a good, healthy supper. Now that Baleman's (the farmer's market) is open across the street getting fresh vegetables is a snap. Some are a little more expensive than the grocery store, but if you factor in the cost of driving all the way to town I think it's totally worth it. I can now go a lot longer between grocery trips. Unfortunately, getting cold, sweet, wonderful ice cream is also a snap. This isn't quite as healthy, but I try to resist going more than once a week. Moderation in all things!

Thinner Thursday - Coconut

2011-06-30T12:30:00.001-03:00

I've been reading lately about the benefits of coconut, specifically coconut oil. This article on Dr. Mercola's website was especially interesting. It cites a study done on women who took a coconut oil supplement compared to women who took a soybean oil supplement. I'm oversimplifying here, but essentially the result was that the women who took the coconut oil presented with an increased level of HDL (good cholesterol), decreased LDL/HDL ratio (I'm not entirely sure what that means, but it's good!) and here's my favourite part - reduced waist circumference/abdominal obesity. The soybean oil group ended up with higher cholesterol overall, increased LDL (bad cholesterol), decreased HDL (good cholesterol) and no inches lost. This post-baby body is saying bring on the coconut oil! The women in the study took 2 tablespoons per day (and also ate a low calorie diet and exercised). Ok so I'm not going to be eating a low calorie diet anytime soon, I'm nursing! But I am making an effort to watch what goes into my mouth and I have been walking around Beulah at least twice per week. Tuesday I did Beulah in the morning and then a nice walk out the back road with my husband in the evening. Wednesday I did Beulah again. It's hard in this hot weather, but I keep thinking of my figure and those extra 15lbs!

Back to the coconut oil. Ever tasted it? It tastes like... nothing. Oil. If you have extra-virgin it has an ever so slight coconut taste, but not enough to make it very appealing to just eat. So you can cook with it, which I have been doing, but that isn't going to bring you up to two tablespoons a day. I've made this fudge recipe a few times and it is FANTASTIC, but it still contains honey and besides, I seem to eat more of it than I really should be. So what I've been doing and very much enjoying the past few days is putting about a tablespoon of coconut oil and a tablespoon of chocolate chips in a little dish, melting them together, stirring in a couple tablespoons of unsweetened flaked coconut and popping it in the freezer to harden. This makes a lovely little chocolate treat for after lunch when the boys are napping. Now the chocolate chips - not so healthy I realize. But I justify it by the coconut oil and coconut I stir in! It tastes chocolatey though the oil kind of thins out the chocolate taste a bit, but adding in the coconut keeps the flavour good. I'm thinking I might start buying some organic dark chocolate bars and melting in one square of that a day instead of the chocolate chips just to alleviate some of the guilt.

Anyway, I recommend going and reading that article since Dr. Mercola discusses many of the other benefits of coconut oil that weren't immediately apparent in the study. It's supposed to be especially important for pregnant/nursing mothers to take, decreases your risk of heart disease, normalizes glucose levels, helps your thyroid, helps kill off the bad yeast in your body, you name it. I also use it as a moisturizer, it's the only thing I use on my skin now. It's greasy yes, but it works and I don't worry about absorbing chemicals into my skin. When Eli got a rash on his face I used coconut oil on it and it cleared right up.

So - eating a chocolate every day as a weight-loss tool? Yes please!

This post is linked up to Thinner Thursdays over at Mommy Miracles.

Skirting the Issue

2011-06-28T12:54:00.002-03:00

(not my photo - google images)

I recently was clicking around the internet, and stumbled upon an article on a fashion blog about whether or not we, as women, should change the way we dress to please our significant other. The article contained lots of quotes from women who had written in to comment on the issue, but I was frustrated that it was a bit one-sided. Every single quotation was strongly against it. The author hadn't published a single comment from someone who thought that you should try to please your husband/boyfriend by adapting your style to their taste. Now I don't know, perhaps there weren't any to choose from, but I was really struck by the attitude of the whole thing. These women were offended at the mere suggestion that they put someone else's preferences ahead of their own. The article was full of phrases like "be yourself no matter what!" "You are the top priority!" "You should be dressing only for yourself!" "Don't change for anyone!" etc.

It raised some questions in my mind. Sure that sounds great... because it's been pounded into our heads since we were children. But really, why are we told not to "change" for anyone? Isn't that what life is all about? If nobody ever changed to accommodate someone else what kind of world would we live in? And I realize that clothing and fashion really is not a huge issue. Style is incredibly subjective, and it is a great way to express yourself. But here's my thought: if you really care about someone, enough to be in a close relationship with them, then isn't it a rather small thing just to change what you wear a little bit in order to make them happier? Obviously if he completely hated your style you probably wouldn't be in a relationship with him because he never would have been attracted to you in the first place, but let's say he just doesn't like a certain pair of shoes that you wear, or he doesn't care for it when you wear your hair a certain way - after all, he's the one you're trying to attract here.

I'm not talking about modesty here (that's a whole other issue!), just personal taste. Frankly, God has been convicting my heart slowly but surely throughout my marriage that it's really important for me to ask Cory what he likes, and then wear it, regardless of whether it's my favourite or not. There are obviously other factors at play here - it has to be reasonably modest, if we're shopping it can't be super expensive, I have to be able to take care of the kids and house comfortably while wearing it, and - yes - I do have to like it too, at least a little bit. I don't think it's fair to ask someone to wear clothes that they hate just because you like them. But who am I trying to impress here? Everybody else? Myself? Or is my husband my top priority?

This is why I have ridiculously long hair. Not because I love it, but because my husband does. He absolutely loves my long hair, and the occasional inconvenience of it is a relatively small price to pay for all the compliments he heaps on me, especially when I wear it down. Now just because he likes my hair down doesn't mean I wear it that way all the time, in fact it's more often braided or tied back than not, but I would never go chop it all off as much as I'm tempted to sometimes because it's such an easy way to make him happy. Also - this is why I am planning on wearing skirts a lot more this summer. It's funny, I've been reading a lot of blogs lately by women who feel convicted by God toward wearing skirts, as an issue of modestly and femininity. I've got to say I don't share their conviction, at least not about wearing skirts all the time. I agree that modesty and femininity are very Godly and important characteristics for every woman to try to emulate, but I don't feel that you have to wear skirts all the time in order to do that. That being said, my husband loves it when I wear skirts and dresses, especially longer ones. I probably feel prettiest wearing a well-fitting pair of jeans and a nice shirt, but my husband loves the skirts. So I've been making more of an effort to wear them, and when we went shopping on Saturday for a few clothes for me to wear this summer (I don't fit into my old summer clothes yet!) I purposely picked out skirts and dresses to try on. I found a couple of really nice things that we BOTH like.

So this summer you'll probably see me around wearing a lot more dresses and skirts. I know my husband is pleased with this development, and that makes us both happier. Now if only I can convince him to wear the shorts that I like, we'll both be content!

Picnics and Planning

2011-06-23T13:13:00.000-03:00

Isn't it always the case that we come up with all these grand ideas for what our summer will entail, then suddenly it's September and nothing got done? Well I'm determined to do better at that this summer. To seize the moment and actually DO fun things. That started yesterday - I was daydreaming about a picnic on the beach and then figured why the heck not? Why not tonight? It's a beautiful night, Victoria Beach is about 5 minutes down the road, and we're not busy. So we went!

And it was simply lovely. I made us some tuna sandwiches, some veggies and fruit and cookies, and we spent a beautiful summer evening soaking up the sun. Eli didn't remember beaches from last summer obviously, so he was pretty fascinated by the sand.

Cory helped him make sandcastles. Despite my extensive preparations, I somehow neglected to bring any toys with us. Not sure how that slipped my mind - I brought everything else in the house that is even remotely picnic-related. But hey, who needs toys when you have plastic cups! Eli had a great time scooping up water and sand and dumping it out again. He was also WAY too excited to eat, I only managed to get a couple of carrots and some blueberries into him.

Theo was his normal self - hungry! I don't know how much he weighs now but I'm sure that he's a much bigger baby than Eli was. It seems so strange to have this blond haired, hefty little boy after Eli, who was slim and had very dark hair. Anyway, as long as I kept him fed every 30 minutes or so Theo was happy to hang out on the picnic blanket. I tried dipping his feet into the river and he instantly screamed bloody murder. Eli was also much more relaxed about things like that... he probably would have shivered and squirmed but he wasn't a screamer. Theo's got more of a defined opinion about the way things should be. You can tell from his scowling little face!

All in all, it was a great evening and we will definitely be heading back to the beach again this summer. Probably not for another picnic, that was more work than I had counted on, but for swimming and sunning ourselves it's great.

In other summer plans, Cory and I are going to the drive-in this Friday! I'm so excited to go on a date with my husband, it seems like it's been forever since we've gone out just the two of us. And ok, it won't be just the two of us because Theo's coming too, but he will most likely be sleeping the majority of the time. We're going to see Mr. Popper's Penguins, which Cory is convinced I won't like since it is one of my favourite childhood books and they've got Jim Carrey playing Mr. Popper. He's probably right, I will probably just be let down, but I still want to see it! The second show is the new X-men movie, we're BOTH excited to see that.

I hear a little boy stirring in my room that will soon start screeching to be fed. I better go get him before that happens!

Summer Eats

2011-06-17T12:50:00.000-03:00

Pioneer Woman recently uploaded a new post to her cooking blog about iced coffee. As soon as I saw it I couldn't wait to try it! I'm sipping on a tall glass right now and it is divine. Perfect for a hot summer's afternoon!

[Photo courtesy Pioneer Woman]

The best part is, it doesn't have to be ridiculously unhealthy if done right. I realize that the jury's still out on coffee - a lot of people think it's not very good for you - but it's only half a cup. The other half of the cup is local raw milk, and I sweeten it with stevia. Cool, sweet and refreshing.

Along with my iced coffee I'm also munching on some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I took the original recipe, which called for 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and instead used 1/4 cup organic sugar, 1/2 cup honey, and a bit of stevia. Use whole wheat flour instead of white and butter instead of margarine and you've got yourself a pretty healthy little cookie!

Last but not least, I made these veggie burgers for supper last night. They were to DIE for.

Cory even said that he thought he might prefer them to regular hamburgers, they were so flavourful and delicious. Now that's high praise, coming from my meat-loving husband! I have to agree with him, these were fantastic. I pretty much followed the recipe - I didn't have shallots or spring garlic so I used green onions and regular garlic instead, didn't have a jalapeno so I just stirred in some red pepper flakes, I added an egg to help it stick together and left out the bread crumbs, because I wanted to be able to recommend it as a gluten free recipe. I don't know if the bread crumbs would have helped it stick together better, because the burgers were on the crumbly side, but we didn't mind the mess. You just had to handle them carefully! I served them on some homemade whole wheat buns I had in the freezer, and we topped them with homemade ketchup, relish, mayo, cheddar cheese, sliced tomatoes, romaine lettuce and - as a special treat - bacon. We're obviously not vegetarians! Avocado would have been perfection but I didn't have any on hand.

I figured there was enough veggies in the burgers themselves that I didn't even bother serving anything on the side, but a small salad might be nice. Since you've already got bread in the bun and rice in the burger, potatoes on the side seemed like carb overload to me.

And those are a few things I've been cooking up since the weather got nice. If you try anything though, try those veggie burgers. Seriously yummy!

Thinner Thursday

2011-06-16T13:43:00.000-03:00

Now that the baby is out it's time to shed that baby weight. Theo is only three weeks old, so I have three more weeks until I can start seriously exercising again, but that doesn't mean that I can't work on eating healthy, avoiding the junk and going for lots of walks.

This morning was the first nice day after several days of rain, so the boys and I went for a walk. I was feeling energized so instead of heading out the back road (nice and flat!) we headed around the Beulah campground. I'm not sure how long this is, I'm thinking it's about 4km, but it's got HILLS. Pushing the double stroller makes it a lot more work - Cory and I walked around last week but he pushed the stroller. I was huffing and puffing then, so I did have to stop a few times to catch my breath when I was on my own. But the good thing about walking around Beulah is that once you've started and you've gone down the hill, you have no choice but to keep going. There's no other way to get home than to climb back up! I always get to the bottom and think Why on earth did I decide to do this? but am always pleased with myself once it's done.
On Tuesday we walked out to Paisley's to pick up milk and eggs. Getting our milk and eggs from them is another good motivator to get me out to take a walk - if I don't go, Eli has no milk to drink. That's a problem! It's about 1km to their house, but it's not a difficult walk. The hardest part is lugging that huge, awkward stroller up and down the 21 stairs to our apartment! There's no room to store it at the foot of the stairs, so I have to bring it up every time. It's good though - just another reason to get me moving.

I tried something new for breakfast this morning, a recipe from Nourishing Traditions for Thin Herb Frittatas. Soooo yummy, I will definitely be making them again. Also a good excuse to use the herbs that are growing on my windowsill. I made these by whisking together in a large bowl:

4 farm fresh eggs
fresh basil
fresh parsely
fresh thyme
dried chives (fresh would obviously be better!)
2 tablespoons parmesan
2 tablespoons homemade sour cream
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

How many times can you use the word "fresh" in one recipe? Anyway, I heated my cast iron skillet, poured in some olive oil and added the egg mixture 1/4 cup at a time to create thin egg "pancakes." They were so so so yummy! I think this is going to be one of my new breakfast staples. I ate 5 of them, Eli ate one! He wasn't so keen on them, but once I put some homemade ketchup on his plate for dipping he was happy to finish it off. The kid loves ketchup. The book recommends eating these as they are, or putting them between bread and eating like a sandwich. That would be good too. Ooo, and I actually remembered to take a picture!

I have a lame point-and-shoot and pretty much ZERO photography knowledge, so I'm always embarrassed to upload photos because I know how amateur they look compared to other blogs I follow. But hey, as long as people know that I'm no photographer and have no aspirations in that direction, I guess I should make at least a little effort to illustrate my posts! My point is, these were yummy and totally delicious. I always fall back on some variation of grains for breakfast, and I really want to make more of an effort to eat less grains. Even though my whole wheat pancakes, homemade granola or yummy oatmeal are quite healthy, I know it's not good to eat too much of it. These came together even faster than pancakes, so I'll be making them again for sure.

Anyway I've rambled enough. I suppose, since this is "Thinner Thursday," I should post some stats and goals here.

Total Pregnancy Weight Gain: 35lbs
Lost so far: 20lbs
Goal 1 (pre-pregnancy weight): 135lbs
Goal 2 (wedding weight): 125lbs

I have a cheap bathroom scale so my weights are kind of guesses, but close enough. I'm linking this post over to Thinner Thursdays on Mommy Miracles. Go check it out!

Two Weeks

2011-06-10T15:58:00.000-03:00

On Wednesday Theo turned two weeks old. Wow time rockets by with a newborn in the house! He's not really even a newborn anymore I guess. Tuesday we took him to the doctor for his first appointment, just to get weighed and measured really. He's gained over a pound since we left the hospital, and grown three centimetres! He's a big boy. Then we left the doctor's office, me lugging a carseat with Theo starting to cry and trying to keep my toddler from bolting (his new favourite thing to do), and when I got to the car I realized that I had locked the keys inside. I had put them in my purse when I turned the car off, like I always do, but then absentmindedly decided to leave my purse in the car and just carry in the diaper bag. I didn't want to carry more than I had to. Foolish. Thankfully there is a taxi service two doors down from the doctor's office that does that sort of thing, so he came and did battle with my door for a while and finally got it open. Forty dollars later, I was back in my car. That's the second time I've done that. At least this guy was pleasant and cheerful and called me "Mama," which I kind of like. Before I had kids people used to call me "dear," which I hated, but being called Mama is kind of cute. After a trip to the bank (Theo still yelling) we parked in the Tim Horton's parking lot so I could feed Eli some lunch and nurse Theo. I had forgotten Eli's sippy topped water bottle and he was thirsty, so I had to give him my water bottle. This resulted in a soaking wet, grumpy toddler, since I couldn't help him drink and nurse Theo at the same time. At any rate, we all got some food into us and then proceeded into town to pick up a few groceries and get Daddy at work.
My beloved husband is working the 5 AM shift this week. Since we live an hour from his work, this means he's getting up at 3:30 all week. It's actually working out ok for us, since I'm up half the night with Theo I'm exhausted too, so we've both been going to bed at 8. This early shift means more overtime for him though, which is good at least financially speaking. He's a champ - I don't know how he does it.
Wednesday we went to playgroup - Theo's first time. Since it was such a nice day we took the kids outside to play on the school playset. Eli is fearless on the playset, much to my chagrin. Thankfully Theo slept in the stroller so I was able to prevent my toddler from plummeting to the ground at any second. There were lots of other Moms around too, which helped as far as having extra eyes and hands to rescue children, but also meant we were constantly trying to prevent collisions between clueless toddlers. Happy, sunny chaos.
In other news, we lost power for a couple of hours last night. Not really a big deal since it was after 9:00 anyway and after bedtime, except when it came time to change Theo's diaper. I didn't have a flashlight, and of COURSE it was one of those explosive, blow-out, all over the clothes and up his back kind of poops. Ever tried cleaning runny newborn poop off a squirming, squalling infant in pitch black darkness? Not an easy task. Funny looking back on it though. The power was back on by midnight, which I was very thankful for.
Anyway, time to get supper in the oven (roasted vegetable lasagna... sans mozzarella. I don't have any and am not willing to spend $4.49 for a tiny little piece downstairs). Cory's going to be late getting home because the poor man had a flat tire on the way to work. He changed it and still made it to work only 5 minutes late, but now he has to get it replaced. Another $40. This car seems to be costing us a lot of money lately! I'm just thankful it was him driving and not me, I wouldn't have known what to do, wouldn't have had the cell phone and probably would have had two small children with me. This might have resulted in total meltdown on my part. Cory's much better about that kind of thing!

Salad Dressing

2011-06-08T13:15:00.000-03:00

About a year ago I decided that I was going to stop buying salad dressing at the store. Have you ever read the ingredients on one of those bottles of yummy Kraft? Especially if you're buying the "lite" variety, there is a lot of unrecognizable stuff in there. Some people choose to eat their salad without any dressing, but I'm not down with that. For one thing... it doesn't taste good. And for another, a properly made dressing will not only enhance the flavour of your salad, it also helps your body digest it. All those raw veggies can be a bit hard on the digestion, but the enzymes from the dressing can really help your body get it down. Plus it's a great way to work in some raw olive oil, because I don't know about you but I don't exactly want to just drink the stuff, even though it's super good for you raw.
Despite the fact that it was over a year ago when I decided to stop buying dressings from the store, it took a while for us to use up what I had ahead, since I had a few bottles in the cupboard too. All those preservatives means it lasts a very long time! Anyway, it's finally out of the house and now whenever I make a salad I take the extra five minutes and whip up a quick dressing to go with it. I'm still experimenting with different ones, but I'm going to post my three favourites here.

Honey Mustard Salad Dressing
In a small mason jar, combine:
1 part white wine vinegar
3-4 parts olive oil
splash of flax oil (optional)
squirt of dijon mustard
spoonful of raw honey
sea salt and pepper to taste
Cover the jar and shake it all up!

Creamy Ranch Dressing
In a small bowl, combine:
1 part homemade mayonnaise
1 part homemade sour cream
thin with raw milk or buttermilk, if desired
Stir in to taste:
Worcestershire sauce
fresh parsley and/or fresh chives
dill
minced garlic -or- Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb (my preference!)
salt and pepper
cayenne pepper if you want
Preferably let sit in the fridge for a couple hours before serving

Vanilla Poppyseed Dressing
In a small bowl, combine:
1 part homemade mayonnaise
3 parts plain yogurt
splash of real maple syrup
squirt of vanilla extract
poppy seeds

And those are my favourite dressings! Deliciously healthy. The only thing about making your own is that they really don't keep that well, a couple of days at MOST, so I generally just make enough for that night's dinner. Now that I'm used to it it's really not that much more work to whip up a quick dressing rather than reach for the bottle of GMO, processed corn products and canola oil.

One final thing: must share the link to this recipe for healthy chocolate peanut butter fudge. I made a half batch last night and it was TO DIE FOR. I've eaten almost the whole thing, and I don't even feel guilty because it's healthy! Ok I feel a little guilty because Cory's going to come home and realize that I ate it all while he was at work, but I'll just make another pan. Great way to work some coconut oil into your diet, SUPER easy to make, and sooo rich and sweet and tasty. This will become a staple in our house for sure! Since I don't have a food processor I cheated a little bit and just melted all the ingredients together in a sauce pan. You have to be careful with this because you don't want to cook the nutrients out of the coconut oil, but I used the very lowest heat setting and worked quickly. So so so good.

Theophilus Ian Vail

2011-05-31T14:02:00.000-03:00

He came!

My beautiful baby boy finally decided to make his appearance. After a false alarm the night before, he chose to arrive at 10:24 in the evening, Wednesday, May 25 after only three hours of labour. He weighs in at 8lbs. 15oz. (big boy!) and is 21 inches long. He's healthy, handsome, a great little nurser, and somewhat nocturnal - my only slight regret!

We chose his name for a couple of different reasons - I've always loved the name Theo and suggested it back when we were expecting Eli. However "Theo" on its own didn't feel like a complete name to me, so I figured we would just use Theodore and call him Theo his whole life. Neither of us were big fans of Theodore though (we grew up on Theodore Tugboat), and when Cory suggested Theophilus instead we both fell in love. I really liked the idea of using another Bible name, I kind of want to use all Bible names for our children. No particular reason why, I just like the idea of it. Theophilus is the benefactor to whom Luke wrote the books of Luke and Acts. It's commonly assumed that Theophilus was wealthy, and sponsored Luke to travel and research the life of Christ and record it for him. Luke and Acts are both addressed to him. Also, it means "Lover of God" or "Loving God" or "Friend of God," depending on how you choose to translate it. I love the meaning. We chose his middle name, Ian, after my dad. Ian means "Gift from God" or "God is Gracious." I love his name, even though I'm a bit shy about telling people what Theo is short for. We've gotten some weird looks and reactions, and I realize that most people think it's too far "out there" - but I'm happy with it. And yes, I realize that "Theophilus" sounds a lot like "the awfullest." We've been told many times. The joke is getting stale.

It began Tuesday night - Cory and I went to bed but I couldn't sleep because of contractions. I've been having contractions since I was about 28 weeks pregnant, sometimes painful, but these were steady and seemed to be coming closer together. I waited a couple hours, wandered around the house in the dark and catching up on some blog reading, but they stayed steady and painful, so I woke Cory up. Since Eli came after only six hours of labour and the second is supposed to be faster I didn't want to risk not making it to the hospital! We packed Eli up and dropped him off at his Nanny's, and took our time heading to the hospital. We probably got there around midnight, but things just didn't seem to be progressing. After a few hours of walking the hospital halls, I was exhausted and we both fell asleep. My contractions had disappeared entirely, the doctor checked and I was only 2cm, so he let me go home. It was so frustrating. I had kept us both up all night, Cory ended up missing work the next day and Eli's sleep had been greatly interrupted. We went home and tried to make it through the day, taking shifts with Eli so the other one could try to sleep. By Wednesday night I was completely exhausted and couldn't WAIT for a good night's sleep. It was the first night in several weeks where I was certain I did not want to go into labour. I needed to catch up on sleep! I got Eli into bed, Cory left for prayer meeting at the church and I flopped on the couch to watch some TV before crashing. It was 7:30. Then the contractions started again. I was in complete denial - I had had a false alarm the night before and I didn't even want to have the baby that night. I drank a large glass of water and laid down on my left side, both things that the internet informed me would slow down false labour. I probably should have clued in that this was the real deal when I starting having to pause my show during contractions just to be able to concentrate. Or when I started groaning in agony. These were much, much stronger than the night before had been. Cory got home about quarter to nine and got in the shower and I finally relented and started timing the contractions. They were about 2 minutes apart, lasting 60-90 seconds. I kept timing them until almost 9:30 and then urgency struck. I guess I finally realized that the baby was coming, and I needed to get moving! Cory again woke Eli and took him to his mother's, and I waited for him to come back getting more and more desperate. We drove to the hospital, normally a 45 minute drive. I think we got there in under 30. For reasons beyond me, we actually stopped on the main floor to register before heading up to labour and delivery. I couldn't even walk at this point, Cory was pushing me in a wheelchair. We got there and were sent into a room. I managed to get changed and collapse on the bed. From this point it's a bit of a blur, but I can remember things in terms of contractions.

First contraction

Nurse enters to check how far along I am, but another contraction hits before she gets a chance.

Second contraction

She asks me to lie on my back so she can check me and starts putting the head of the bed up. Before I can even roll over...

Third contraction

My water breaks. Er, explodes would be a better word. Pretty sure the entire bed was drenched. I roll onto my back.

Fourth contraction

Nurse takes a peek, and sees my baby's head completely crowned. She runs out into the hallway and starts yelling for people to come.

Fifth contraction

Nurses and doctor run in... shouting... everyone telling me to "stop pushing!" As if. Makes me wonder if these women have ever even given birth.

Sixth contraction

Baby's head is out. Shouts of "stop pushing" turn into shouts of "keep pushing!"

Seventh contraction

Theo enters the world.

And that's pretty much how it went. Cory cuts the cord, doctor and nurses laugh, relieved that they made it there in time. I get to hold my boy. Bliss. Of course the bliss is followed up by the excruciating pain of stitches, afterpains, having blood clots removed and nursing Theo all at the same time - childbirth is still not an incredibly pleasant experience. But he's here. He's beautiful and healthy and perfect. Tomorrow he'll be one week old, already! I'll try to take some more pictures to post, but we didn't really get many this time, everything seemed so panicked.

And here I am, a mother of two. So perfectly happy!

39 weeks

2011-05-20T20:04:00.000-03:00

Today, I am officially 39 weeks pregnant. I never made it to 39 weeks with Eli, so it feels strange to be farther along than I ever have been. I don't know how women cope with going 41... 42 weeks before baby comes. I really hope God doesn't ask that of me!

Cory's off with the youth group having a pizza party, Eli's in bed and I guess it's cultured dairy products night for me, since I got a batch of sour cream started, a batch of raw milk yogurt culturing in the oven and some buttermilk curdling on the counter to make cream cheese in the morning. To be honest, I have a craving for carrot cake with cream cheese icing... that's why I'm making the cream cheese! I'm really hoping that I go into labour tonight (of course!) but if I do I might also end up wasting some dairy products. Might have to send someone over to the house to put everything in the fridge for me! Honestly that's been my thought process every time I've started a project over the past week or two. What if I go into labour when I'm halfway through this? Obviously this hasn't yet been a problem. With all the practice contractions though I keep pulling up Contraction Master to see if it might be real labour, but every time they are too far apart or just go away. Soon. Having patience waiting for a baby to arrive is I think one of the most difficult things to wait for in the world. Even more difficult than waiting to get pregnant was (though that was hard too, in a different way). Cory has a very laid back, "he'll come when he comes" sort of attitude. He also acknowledges though that it's easy for him to say that since he's not the one lugging the kid around! I do admire his patience though, I need to be more like that.

Tonight for dinner we had vegetarian chili with sour cream, grated cheddar cheese and some Tostitos. I was worried that Cory might complain about a chili with no meat in it, but turns out he loved it! I'm so thankful to be married to someone who doesn't complain about healthy cooking but is supportive and eats whatever I choose to serve. Sure there are some things he likes more than others, but in general he's always appreciative and not picky. I think I'll keep him. Best part of the chili was the fresh corn I got from the farmers market across the street. Crunchy and fresh and soooo good. For dessert I made some smoothies - raw milk, yogurt, lots of spinach, blueberries and mango chunks. And now my blender that was a little bit broken is completely broken. Cory has promised me a new one for my birthday in July (I'm going for the KitchenAid!) but until then I think we'll be smoothie-less. Oh well.

Oh, and Eli learned how to drink from a straw today! Finally... most kids I think figure that one out a lot younger, but he just could not understand that you had to suck on it. He's learning so many words now too... his latest is "Jesus" and "Edward" (our cat). So cute... he'll say "Jesus!" and then run and get his Bible to look at. I'm so glad we're having another little boy that I can watch go through these stages again.

I guess that's my eclectic post of the day. Hopefully next time I blog it will be about our little Baby #2's birth!

Tuna Casserole

2011-05-18T19:28:00.000-03:00

Baby Update: No baby yet. Went for a walk last night, took Eli to playgroup today and jumped around, went for a walk in the graveyard this afternoon and skipped and hopped, took another walk tonight, climbed on the playset at the school... nothing. Heavy sigh. Learning to wait. Nine days until my EDD.

When you think of healthy food, tuna casserole is not exactly the first thing that pops into your mind. Mine either. And I'm not even going to pretend that my tuna casserole recipe is extraordinarily healthy, but with the right ingredients you can get a delicious meal that's really actually pretty good for you. For me, tuna casserole is comfort food. It's one of my favourite things to eat, has been since I was a kid. My mom used to make this a lot, and while the ingredients have changed slightly to reflect my food convictions, it's still essentially the exact same tuna casserole I grew up eating. The best thing about it? You don't need any fresh ingredients, so if you're running low on groceries it's a great "pantry meal," and it goes from start to finish in about 15 minutes. Very quick and easy supper... especially if you're almost nine months pregnant and don't feel like cooking!

Curried Tuna Casserole
1 box whole wheat or brown rice pasta (I usually use macaroni or shells)
1/2 cup homemade mayonnaise
1/2 cup raw milk
2 cans flaked tuna in water, drained
1-2 cups frozen peas (however much you want, I just dump in a bunch)
1 tablespoon curry powder (less if you aren't as big a curry fan as me)
sea salt and pepper to taste
2-3 cups grated cheddar cheese (again, according to your taste!)

Cook the pasta according to package directions. While it's cooking, grate the cheese and in a large skillet, stir together everything except the cheese and let it heat up. When the pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse and add to the skillet. Stir it all together, then add the cheese and stir until it melts.
And that's it! You're done! Throw it on a plate and enjoy some serious comfort food. If you use decent ingredients, tuna casserole doesn't have to be terribly unhealthy. And you could always add in some more veggies if you wanted, but when I'm making it I want it on the table, FAST.

Last thing, wanted to share this video I found on youtube today. These homemade veggie burgers look incredibly yummy, and I actually can't wait to try them. I'll probably put bacon on mine ;) And topped with avacado!? Such a good idea.

Waiting

2011-05-17T09:01:00.000-03:00

Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage, wait for the LORD! ~ Psalm 27:14

I know it's silly, but I now feel like I'm overdue with Baby #2. I'm not at all, it's actually still 10 days before my EDD, but Eli was born by this point and I just so hoped that he would be too. I got into bed last night really kind of expecting to wake up in labour. Nope.

Lots of "practice contractions," but nothing really substantial. I have never wanted to be in severe pain so badly before. The really firm contractions actually started on Sunday. I had them all day Sunday, all day yesterday, all through the night last night... but no pain yet. Just firm, uncomfortable contractions. It could mean the baby will be here really soon... or it could mean nothing and he could take another week to arrive.

Still not sleeping that well, I woke up at 5:30 this morning when Cory's alarm went off and ended up just getting up. I think I would rather be getting up to nurse every couple hours as long as I was sleeping soundly in between those times!

Cory keeps reminding me - and I keep reminding myself - that God's timing is perfect. He knows exactly when this baby needs to arrive, when he's done developing and when I need him. I'm trying very hard to treasure this last little time I have with just me and Eli at home. We're reading lots of books together and trying to have fun. He loves wrestling but I'm not really up for that at this point.

I have so much to be thankful for though. The end of this pregnancy has been so much better than last time. Being huge in the summer is really difficult, as I was so, so swollen with fluid when pregnant with Eli. Also the hip pain - near the end of my pregnancy with Eli my left hip kind of gave out, and I ended up walking with a cane for the last week before he was born, and a week or so after he came too. I couldn't walk and carry the baby, someone had to bring him to me whenever I needed to nurse him. That was hard. God's spared me that happening this time, my hips - although loose and making weird clicking sounds - are not painful like last time.

And now I wait. Anticipate. Maybe go for a long walk...

Sugar

2011-05-15T08:41:00.000-03:00

After a delicious, healthy breakfast this morning of whole wheat pancakes with real maple syrup, blueberries and whipped cream, it got me wondering something... why are we so obsessed with throwing white sugar into everything we cook?

I used to obediently follow recipes and add the sugar in, until I started realizing how unnecessary it was. Let's take our breakfast this morning for an example: the pancake recipe originally calls for white flour (basically sugar once it enters your body!) and a tablespoon of sugar. Using whole wheat flour instead of white actually can make it easier to get that fluffy pancake texture. Since one of the keys of making pancakes is to stir ever so gently as to avoid activating the gluten in the flour, using whole wheat flour makes it more fool proof, since it takes a lot more stirring to get the gluten going in whole wheat. Even better you can use a low-gluten flour like stone ground spelt. Then you can give that batter a good stir and get everything well combined without worrying about gluey pancakes. As for the tablespoon of sugar... really? Is it really that important? I can tell you having experimented that it isn't. Leaving it out makes absolutely no difference in your finished product, and you can't even really taste it if you do put it in. So why would you?

We like our pancakes decadent, covered in maple syrup, berries and whipped cream. But this doesn't have to be unhealthy either. The berry syrup is as simple as dumping some frozen berries from my freezer into a bowl and microwaving it for a minute or two. No need to add sugar, berries are plenty sweet enough on their own. If you do need a little sweetness, stevia works great, but I don't even bother with that anymore. Disclaimer: microwaves are really not an ideal way of cooking stuff, it would be healthier to throw the berries in a small saucepan and heat them up on the stove, but I'm lazy and the microwave is very convenient. I've promised myself that if/when this microwave dies I'm not going to buy another one, I will learn to live without, but until that time... the berries get microwaved.

Lastly, the whipped cream. It was a revelation to me when I realized that you don't have to sweeten whipped cream. It still tastes amazing on food when it's just the straight up cream, no sugar needed! It's so ingrained in our minds that we have to add sugar while whipping cream, but why? I love it unsweetened now, and when it's sweetened it tastes sickeningly sweet to me now. Leaving it natural lets the rich taste of the cream shine through. And there are those that would argue with me, but I'm a big advocate of natural fats like cream. They contain loads of vitamins that your body craves, and will help you stay full all morning. A breakfast of white pancakes with low fat table syrup will spike your blood sugars and leave you hungrier than ever half an hour later. Won't help you loose weight. A breakfast of whole wheat pancakes (if they contain lots of eggs for protein even better), real maple syrup, berries and whipped cream where the only sugar is the natural sugars in the berries and maple syrup will fill you up and keep you going. Plus if you ask me, it's way, WAY yummier.

Mayonnaise, Whey and Cream Cheese

2011-05-06T12:15:00.000-03:00

(not my photo)

I've mentioned here a lot of times before that I make my own mayonnaise, but I don't think I've ever talked about it. It's seriously about one of the easiest things to switch over to making at home. Takes less than 10 minutes. You do want room temperature eggs, so you have to remember to get them out ahead of time, but besides that it's SO fast and easy to do. I'll write out my method using my stand mixer here, but lots of people have better success using the blender or food processor to do this. If I had a decent blender, or even owned a food processor, I might give that a try. [UPDATE: I now own a good blender and use that. It works much better than the stand mixer! You just need a funnel to help with the oil, because it splatters like crazy.] Also, I use all olive oil, but this does have quite a strong flavour of olives. My mom mixes hers half sunflower oil half olive oil, for a milder taste. You can even use all sunflower oil if you want. Just please, please don't use canola oil! It's SOOO bad for you, you really might as well just keep buying the store bought stuff if you're going to use canola. And that's my little health rant of the day.

Homemade Mayonnaise
2 egg yolks, room temperature
pinch sea salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon whey (optional)
3/4-1 cup oil (sunflower/olive)

In a blender or bowl of a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, combine egg yolks, salt, lemon juice, mustard and optional whey. Give it a quick pulse or whisk to blend. Now with the blender running or the mixer on fairly high (I use 8), SLOWLY start to drip in the oil, just a few drops at a time at first. After a minute you can add it a little faster, but still just in a really thin steam. I would estimate it takes me between 5-10 minutes of standing at the mixer slowly pouring in the oil. This is the only part that takes any effort on your part. If you don't do it slowly, you will end up with a runny mayonnaise. It's still edible and tasty, but it won't be that thick creamy texture we're going for here. If you didn't add the whey, then put your mayo in a jar and refrigerate immediately. It will keep for 1-2 weeks. If you do add the whey (and I always do) then put the mayo in a jar, cover, and let it sit at room temperature for 7 hours before putting it in the fridge. The whey starts a slight fermentation process that not only increases enzymes and makes the mayonnaise even healthier for you, but also will help it keep in the fridge for at least a few months. I've never had it go bad in the fridge on me, and it takes us a while to get through a whole jar.
And that's it! Super easy and pretty much a million times better for you than store bought "mayonnaise" (I'm using that word in the loosest sense possible).

Now as for the whey, I'll admit that when I first heard about using whey I really had no idea what it was or how to get it. Whey is a bi-product from cheese making, and usually discarded, but it actually contains a lot of valuable enzymes that can be very beneficial to your digestive system. Making whey is also very easy. All you need is either some plain yogurt, some cultured buttermilk, or some regular milk. If you're using yogurt, just set a strainer lined with a cheesecloth (actually I just use a dishcloth!) over a large bowl and dump in the yogurt. Gather the corners and tie the bundle up so it can drip into the bowl. It's handy to use a cupboard knob for this and just set the bowl on the counter beneath it. Leave it overnight or longer if necessary, and you will end up with a bowl full of whey and a dishcloth full of homemade cream cheese. Scoop the cream cheese into a container in the fridge, it will keep for about a week, and pour the whey into a jar, also in the fridge. It will keep for a really long time - months at least. If you decide to use buttermilk or regular milk, let it sit on the counter until it sours and separates, between 12 and 24 hours. This will look nasty and you will question your sanity, but I've done it many times and haven't died yet! Do the same thing you would do with the yogurt, pour it into a dishcloth then tie it up and let it drip out. Ta da, cream cheese and whey. Your cream cheese will have a slightly different flavour depending on what you use to make it, but it's yummy and works well in recipes that call for the commercial stuff. Or you can mix in some herbs and spices and make a spread or dip for fresh veggies. Or stir in some honey and diced fruit and make a dip for fruit. The possibilities are endless, and you know you're doing good for your body.

The whey can also be taken just to help digestion - a lot of people swear by it. Stir a tablespoon into a small glass of water and drink it a couple times a day. I've done this - it doesn't taste good, but it's not awful. Better than pepto-bismol *shudder* and certainly a lot more natural. One must wonder what they put in that stuff to make it that colour...

I should note that the recipes and ideas I'm posting today, while slightly adapted to my own taste, come for the most part from the book Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, which I've mentioned on my blog before. While I don't ascribe to everything she writes in this book, I really like the overall principle: sticking to wholesome foods that are as natural as possible, and using traditional methods of preparing them. I take a lot of my cooking inspiration from her.

Anticipating

2011-05-04T09:41:00.000-03:00

Even though my actual due date isn't until the end of the month, the 27th to be exact, I'm getting very excited for this baby's arrival. I'm starting to get that "it could happen any time" feeling... having lots of strong, persistent Braxton Hicks, and nesting in full gear. I don't remember having the same sense of urgency to get the house clean last time. This time the thought of leaving and going to the hospital with laundry unfolded, dishes unwashed and Eli's toys spread out all over the house is driving me crazy, because I know that is not what I want to have to come home to! I know that as soon as I actually do go into labour I'm going to be running around the house trying to straighten things out before we leave and it's going to drive Cory crazy. I was only in labour for 6 hours from start to finish with Eli, and usually you go faster the second time. At my doctor's appointment on Monday I was already sitting at 1 cm (my apologies if that's too much information for you - pregnancy makes you reveal some very personal things!). That's encouraging if only because it's one less centimeter I have to work through when the actual time comes. Since everything seems SO much like it was the last time, I'm thinking he'll probably arrive around 10 days early, just like Eli. So hard to know though.
I do want to bake another loaf of bread and get that into the freezer for when baby comes, also maybe throw together a quick macaroni and cheese to have frozen as well. With my Mom coming to help out and the church bringing meals I'm not too worried about having lots of meals frozen ahead of time, but it's still nice to be prepared.
Speaking of freezers - our landlord replace our fridge for us on Monday. SO EXCITING. Our fridge barely held things cold, and it was a race against time to see if I could cook and serve all our fresh veggies before they went bad, and drink the milk before it soured. I didn't always win that race and was so sick of throwing out expensive food. Good news is I don't have to be in such a rush anymore. Our new, spacious fridge keeps things MUCH colder. So nice to not have to stress about that anymore.
Eli and I are heading to playgroup at the school this morning, so we must be off. He fell off of our bed this morning and narrowly missed hitting his eye squarely on the corner of our nightstand. He's got a good scrape next to his eye now, but it doesn't seem to be bothering him at all now, thank goodness. I'm thanking God for keeping him safe - he does a much better job at it than I do!

Homemade Deodorant

2011-04-30T08:38:00.000-03:00

I guess I'm on a blogging spree - three posts in less than two days? But I've had this topic on my mind to write about for a few weeks now so I'm finally getting around to it.

I made my own deodorant and I love it! When I first started looking into it there seemed to be so many methods with so many complicated ingredients that I gave up very quickly. Didn't seem worth it! But once I found the perfect simple recipe and tried it out I got hooked. Please note, this is a recipe for deodorant, not antiperspirant. It will not stop you from sweating. Antiperspirants work by blocking your sweat glands, using aluminum and other nasty chemicals, and they have been linked to an increased risk of breast cancer. Also they are usually heavily scented, often not a big deal but there are an increasing number of people out there with scent sensitivities who won't be able to stand next to you if you're wearing a scented antiperspirant. I'm sensitive to this because my younger sister used to be very allergic to scented products and had to miss a lot of classes in high school due to inconsiderate people (sometimes teachers!) loading themselves up with smelly stuff.
Anyway, deodorant simply works by absorbing some of the smell. The active ingredient in this deodorant is baking soda. Know how it absorbs smells in the fridge? Works the same way in your armpits! I still keep a stick of antiperspirant on hand for occasions where I really wouldn't want to be sweaty, like if I were wearing a nice dress to an event or something, but for day-to-day use I love this stuff. Keeps me feeling fresh and non-smelly! Cory uses it too - under protest. I simply stopped buying his regular stuff so he has no choice, but honestly the man doesn't stink anyway. Seriously, he can go weeks without putting on any deodorant or antiperspirant and you would never know. I'm not so lucky.
But enough blabbing, on to the method. All you do is take equal parts coconut oil, baking soda and arrowroot and cream them together with the back of a spoon until totally smooth and combined. Two tablespoons of each is a good place to start. It takes some elbow grease because the coconut oil is quite solid, but once you finally get it all combined you can pack it into an old, empty antiperspirant stick, pop it in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up and then apply it just like you would the store bought stuff. It's still a bit softer than regular antiperspirant so you have to be gentle so you don't make a mess, but the coconut oil makes it pretty firm. Personally, I keep mine in a jar and just use my fingers, but if you don't like the idea of that (and Cory didn't!) the empty container method works too. Another option: you can, if you want, add a few drops of essential oils if you absolutely must have a pretty smell. Lavender is popular. A lot of people also put some tea tree oil in it, because that's an antimicrobial, but I prefer to leave mine plain. With skin as sensitive as mine I worried that essential oils would just bother me, and I prefer the unscented product anyway.
One last note - a lot of recipes call for corn starch instead of the arrowroot. That's fine, it would do the same thing, but I try to stay away from corn starch as much as possible because of how highly processed it is. It's not a "natural" product. Arrowroot on the other hand needs no chemicals or high temperatures for processing. It's readily and fairly cheaply available at the Bulk Barn.
So those are my thoughts on homemade deodorant. It's great if you're trying to stay away from chemicals but still don't want to be stinky! I haven't looked into the cost breakdown of this, but I'm sure it's also cheaper than a regular store bought stick, and WAY better for you and the environment. Think of all the plastic packaging you're also saving!

Potential Disaster

2011-04-30T07:15:00.000-03:00

Well, tonight I decided to use up the leftover cup of grated zucchini I had in the fridge from making Chocolate Zucchini Muffins for the Wellness Fair last night. I decided that I wanted to make brownies, since I was tired of muffins. I googled the internet for Chocolate Zucchini Brownies and found LOTS of recipes, but nothing that was really what I wanted. My criteria for a recipe were: cocoa powder, not real chocolate (I didn't have any) not a huge amount of sugar to make it easier to sub with honey; fudgy, not cakey; only 1 cup of zucchini because that's all I had; and lots of butter, mostly because I wanted to try substituting some of the butter with peanut butter but still wanted it nice and moist. I couldn't find ANYTHING. So... I went to the kitchen, and using an old stand-by recipe as a very vague starting place, I proceeded to not do anything it said and made brownies. They are in the oven now. I'm going to hold back on posting this until I can give a verdict, because I'm a little dubious as to how they're going to turn out. But here's what I did before I forget completely...

Potential Disaster Chocolate Peanut Butter Zucchini Brownies

In a large bowl, I combined:
1 1/2 cups of spelt/whole wheat flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
In a microwavable bowl:
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
...melt these together in the microwave, then stir in
1 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
...until smooth.
Pour into the dry ingredients, give it a quick stir to cool it down then add
2 eggs
1 cup grated zucchini
...and stir until thoroughly combined.

Pour into a greased 9x9 pan and bake at 350 degrees for... well... I'm not exactly sure yet as it's still in the oven. I will get back to you on that, but I set the initial timer for 40 minutes. We shall see.

Next day final verdict: This recipe turned out a moist, dense, delicious... chocolate cake. Definitely not the fudgy brownies I was going for. I know what I did wrong though, my original recipe did not call for baking soda, but I added it in because I was worried about the whole thing turning into a brick. I should have not worried and just let the eggs do the work, or only added perhaps the teensiest little pinch of baking soda.
I didn't think you would be able to taste the peanut butter because there's only 1/4 cup in the whole recipe, but you can totally taste it and it adds great flavour. Overall, this was a very yummy experiment. I'm just disappointed that my brownie craving has to remain unfulfilled. But at least I didn't waste all those ingredients! I have a yummy chocolate cake to show for it :)

Leftover Egg Whites

2011-04-29T16:34:00.000-03:00

One of the problems when making your own mayonnaise is the leftover egg whites. The miser in me cringes against dumping them out, but I seem to struggle with what to do with them. Leftover yolks are fine, I just add them to scrambled eggs, but I don't like my eggs with extra whites in them, and there's not a ton of nutrition in them, though there's lots of protein.
I've tried a few different things - some people suggest freezing them for future recipes, which is certainly a good option except that I know myself, and I know that frozen egg whites would languish in my freezer for months until they were freezer burnt beyond recognition. There's always simple meringue cookies, but I'm not a big fan of those, especially after a day.
So my current favourite thing to do? Make macaroons! There are lots of different, fancy recipes out there that call for whipping the whites or sweetened condensed milk, but I follow this simple method and they turn out delicious every time. I usually have two egg whites after making mayonnaise, but since they don't come in a standard size you have to play with amounts a bit to get things right.

Throw the egg whites in a bowl. Add a pinch of salt and a splash of vanilla. Now sweetener: obviously sugar is traditional, but I really like them with maple syrup. For two large egg whites, I'll use a bit less than 1/2 cup of maple syrup. That's plenty sweet enough for me, but if you really like things sweet you could use more. Now break out the elbow grease and give this a good whisk until it's well combined. It will be a bit foamy on top. Now just add enough unsweetened coconut to make a scoopable cookie "dough." I also add flaked almonds, because they are delicious. So probably around 2 - 2 1/2 cups of coconut and almonds, but don't start with that much, just add until it holds together. Then scoop by the tablespoon onto a greased (don't be like me and forget that step or you'll be chiseling them off with a knife) cookie sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, until they're starting to brown. Pull them out and resist for another 15-20 minutes until they firm up a bit, then dive in! After all, there's no sugar right? And coconut and almonds are both super good for you. So fun to have a sweet cookie that you can eat pretty much guilt-free. And for those who don't like fat (not me obviously), they're pretty much fat free too, except for the almonds. Of course you can make these just as easily without almonds, I just love them.
And there you have it, cookies from start to finish in about 20 minutes, and you didn't waste those egg whites. Perfect!

Sleepless Nights and Meatball Soup

2011-04-26T19:23:00.000-03:00

Last night was one of the worst nights we've had with Eli ever since he started sleeping through the night. I woke up around 2:00 for a bathroom run (pretty standard this late in the pregnancy!) and he must have heard me, because the screaming started then. He was incredibly tired from our long weekend in Nova Scotia, the five hour drive we'd had that day, and then a late bedtime because we were at a friend's house. I got him up and rocked him back to sleep, then laid him down and rubbed his back until I was SURE he was asleep. Ten minutes later he woke up again. Dragged myself out of bed, repeat the process. Back to bed. Ten minutes later, he was up again. This time it was Cory's turn! He got him up and changed his diaper, then rocked and soothed him back to sleep again. Ten minutes later? You guessed it. I knew Cory wasn't feeling well, so I decided to handle it. He had a really runny nose and Cory thought that maybe he was waking up because he couldn't breathe properly. Unfortunately we don't own a humidifier, so I grabbed the next best thing I could find - the kettle! I squirted some tea tree oil into the water, brought it into his room and plugged it in. After soothing him enough that he was lying down, I sat on the floor in the dark and flipped the kettle on every time it shut off again until I thought his room was steamy enough. By the time I managed to drag myself back into bed again, it was 4:00. Thankfully though, the kettle seemed to do the trick. He stayed asleep! Until 6:30 that is, when we were both up for the day. It was one of those nights where I questioned my decision to have children, but it's too late to give them back now! By the time I had a couple more hours of sleep in me though I was thankful for him again. I expected him to wake up this morning with a vicious cold considering his condition last night, but he seems to be fine, albeit a little tired and grumpy. This evening I put him to bed with the tea tree oil steam again, and also rubbed Vicks under his nose and on his chest and on the bottoms of his feet. I had never heard of putting Vicks on the soles of ones feet until I moved to Browns Flat, but people around here SWEAR by it for curing what ails you. I remain skeptical, but at least it can't hurt him. Here's hoping tonight is an improvement over the last one.

Tonight for dinner we had Italian Meatball Soup. YUM. I've made it twice now and I think it will become a staple around here. I love soup because it incorporates lots of healthy vegetables, homemade chicken stock, healthy fats and you can get away with less meat than in other meals. Here's my recipe, it's loosely based on Italian Wedding Soup, but that traditionally uses tiny pasta called pastini (I think), but I like to use quinoa instead, just to be difficult. As always I'm not really including a lot of measurements here. When I first made it I made so many meatballs that I froze half of them. This made it a lot quicker to make the second time since all I had to do was pull them out of the freezer and throw them in the pot.

Italian Meatball Soup

For the meatballs:
ground beef
1 egg
bread crumbs
parsley
parmesan cheese
italian seasoning
salt and pepper
Mix together using clean hands and scoop out by the tablespoon, forming into balls. You could always make them bigger if you want, but I like the little ones for soup. Now here is the optional part: you can choose to heat up a skillet on medium high and brown the meatballs a few at a time, or just leave them as is. The first time I made this soup I browned the meatballs. This made them prettier and gave them a nice flavour, but when I didn't bother the second time I really didn't notice much difference. I'll probably just skip this step from now on!

For the soup:
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic
2 large carrots
3 stalks celery
several tablespoons olive oil
Heat the oil in a large stock pot. Dice the vegetables and saute in oil until they are starting to soften. Don't skip this - sauteing prior to adding the stock really makes the veggies soft and gives them a better flavour. Crunchy onions in my soup? No thanks.
5-6 cups of chicken stock or water or a combination (beef or veggie stock would be fine too)
Italian seasoning
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
(Feel free to throw in any extra spices you feel like at this point, I added some good old Mrs. Dash!)
Bring this to a rolling boil.
1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed
meatballs from above
Add to pot. Return to a boil, then cover and simmer 20-25 minutes.
baby spinach, torn or chopped into bite sized pieces (I used about half a 5 oz. package)
a few tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Remove bay leaf. Add spinach and parsley, stir and let spinach wilt. Serve immediately, topped with extra parmesan cheese if desired.

Very yummy, very healthy, and quite simple, especially if you do the meatballs ahead of time. Eli loves this soup, it gets two thumbs up from him! Oh, and if you're going to be freezing meatballs, make sure you flash freeze them. This means laying them out on a baking sheet to freeze prior to putting them in a bag. This way they'll keep their shape and won't all stick together. Enjoy!

Back to Normal

2011-04-14T13:39:00.000-03:00

My house is beginning - beginning - to look like normal again. Hallelujah! Life returns. It's frustrating when you start to feel better and look around at the chaos that was once your home. Not only are you well behind on normal tasks, there are also extra tasks that really ought to be done now that the sickness is leaving. All the bedding should be washed, surfaces need to be wiped down and sanitized, and the whole place should really be aired out.
Not to mention that when you make a lot of things from scratch, you tend to start running low. There's no bread because you haven't made any, we ran out of mayonnaise and I had no energy to make more, the freezer is void of chicken broth and we're running low on yogurt. ACK! Being a "do-it-yourself-er" is great, until you can't.
But like I said, I'm starting to get there. We have mayo in the fridge again. Cory ended up buying a loaf of bread downstairs so I have another couple days before I have to worry about that. Broth is simmering on the stove, laundry is just about caught up on, sheets are in the dryer and you can see the living room floor again. Not that it's anything pretty to look at considering how many crumbs made their way onto it, but at least it's visible.
Wanted to post quickly about dinner last night, because I was struck while throwing it together that something so elegant and gourmet looking could be so easy. Cory came home from work and was concerned that I had gone "all out" in making a nice dinner, but honestly it was so simple. Just proves that elegant does not have to be a lot of work! I made Lemon Basil Pasta, but added lots of garlic too. I firmly believe that everything is better with garlic. This simple cream sauce tossed with pasta was very easy to make, and that's the most complicated part of the whole dinner! We also had roasted asparagus (trim asparagus, toss with olive oil, sea salt and pepper and bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes) and steamed mussels. I love buying mussels because they're relatively inexpensive (about $4 for a package and that lasts us two meals) and seem like such a special treat. Also SO easy to prepare, just rinse and then steam for 5 minutes. I like them best steamed in white wine, but I didn't have any so plain water it was. Still fantastic. I'm just happy I could still make a yummy dinner with minimal effort, and very little cutting and chopping. It was a good supper.
My boy is waking up now, and must be tended to I suppose. Time to fold more laundry...

Lemon Ginger Tea

2011-04-13T19:51:00.000-03:00

...is what we've been living off of the past few days. Eli has been feeling under the weather since Thursday, and Saturday the flu finally hit him hard. I was thankful the puke-fest happened while I was over at the church and my wonderful husband dealt with the aftereffects. I was really tired when I got home but managed to haul myself into town to pick up groceries, because we really needed them quite desperately. I'm glad I did it, but as soon as I got home I crashed. I was barely able to throw some supper together, thankfully I had stuck a chicken in the oven to roast before I left. Anyway, I ended up being sick that night and Sunday morning was pretty desperately ill with the flu. Couldn't even keep water down. Eli was still sick too, and my wonderful husband stayed home all day and took care of us. We were disappointed to miss church since there was a missionary coming to speak and a luncheon afterwards, but there was nothing for it. Eli and I were in no condition to go, or to be left alone. My sweet husband was patient and understanding as he got me everything I needed, took care of diaper changes and rocked our boy to sleep. I must have told him a hundred times that I was so thankful for him, and I still don't feel like it was enough.
The sudden reversal of roles was frustrating for me. In our early days of marriage it didn't bother me a bit to have him wait on me, but now that a couple of years have gone by I hate not being able to take care of him, to fix his meals and make the home a pleasant place for him to be. Certainly we strive to serve each other equally in our marriage, both doing things to help the other, but there are just some things that have naturally fallen to one or the other. Since I'm home, it just makes sense that I cook the meals and keep the house clean and take care of Eli. To be suddenly stripped of that ability makes you feel very helpless. I think it was partly an issue of wanting Cory to not be as miserable as I was, and wishing I were well enough that he could have gone to church and work, but it's also largely a control issue. I hate not being in charge of my own house.
But it's Wednesday now, and I'm finally starting to perk up a tiny bit. I made and ate three real meals today for the first time since Saturday, and ran one load of laundry. There's a lot more to catch up on, but I have to take it pretty easy. I was getting worried when I couldn't even keep water down on Sunday, knowing that if I didn't start being able to keep it down soon I was going to get too dehydrated and the risk of early labour would start to become more real. It's a lot scarier when you know your body is trying to keep you well and also take care of another little life! As much as I hate hospitals, I knew that IV fluids were going to become necessary if another day like that went by. Praise God it didn't, and that Baby Boy is well protected from viruses inside of me. I can't imagine having to deal with this AND a newborn... ugh. Some things are better left unimagined.
After taking Monday and Tuesday off to help take care of us (and because he wasn't feeling so great himself, though he hasn't got the flu yet), Cory headed back to work today. I missed him, Eli and I had a hard time getting along with each other since he's still very weepy and whiny despite feeling a lot better, and my temper is short and patience worn very thin right now. We managed not to kill each other until Cory got home, and he is blissfully asleep for the night. As I will be too before much longer.
Maybe after I finish this cup of lemon ginger tea. This is my favourite tea even when I'm not sick, and when I am sick it soothes my throat and calms my stomach and comforts my soul. Perfect.

Ketchup

2011-04-08T13:38:00.000-03:00

I think I posted about this before - but since I just wrote up my homemade ketchup recipe for an e-mag that friends of ours are starting up I thought I might as well throw it up on my blog too.

Here's the little blurb about the e-mag in case anyone is interested:

My wife and I would like to present our new online magazine publication, "Tell it on the Mountain". Reaching people here and around the world. There will be interesting articles to inspire you, How To's, Children's Page, Teen Page, LOL Page, Classifieds, Advertisements and Much, Much, More. Coming Soon! If you are interested in advertising your business, or a free issue to your inbox, contact us at tellitonthemountain@live.ca Looking forward to hearing from you
By: Sherwin Mac Burnie Sr.

I'll be contributing recipes, healthy living tips, and whatever else I come up with I guess! Cory will also be writing articles on various topics, this month he's writing something for the "Teen Page." Anyway, here's my contribution for this month!

It’s fast approaching that time of year again. Barbeque season! This summer, instead of grabbing that regular old bottle of Heinz, why not try making your own ketchup? By making your own, you can control the flavor and ingredients to make it exactly the way you like it, and you can also avoid the high sugar content of store bought ketchup. Making your own ketchup is easier than you might think, and while there are as many different methods and recipes as there are bottles on the grocery store shelf, here is my preferred way to make everyone’s favourite condiment.

Homemade Ketchup

1 small onion, roughly chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and halved

½ tsp salt

2-3 tablespoons olive oil

1/3 cup vinegar (apple cider or white wine)

1/3 cup molasses

1 28oz. can diced tomatoes

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and salt and sauté until the onion is soft. Pour in the vinegar and scrape the bottom of the pan. Add the molasses and the diced tomatoes. Bring to a boil and simmer for anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 ½ hours, depending on how thick you want your ketchup to be. Now taste and add more vinegar, salt or molasses to taste. I like sweeter ketchup so I always add more molasses. You can also add any spices you might like at this point. We like a bit of cayenne, cinnamon and cloves in ours, but feel free to add whatever you think might be good. How about curried ketchup? Or hot sauce ketchup? Taste and adjust, this is the fun part! Once you like the way your ketchup tastes, let it cool down and then blend until smooth. If you have an immersion blender this would be a great time to use it, otherwise put the ketchup in the blender or food processer in batches. Store in the fridge, either in a jar or funnel into an empty squeeze bottle. Enjoy, knowing you’re doing good for your body and your taste buds.

New Things

2011-03-28T18:30:00.000-03:00

I'm trying to set a goal for myself of trying some new foods, more specifically some new vegetables. Honestly, even though we eat a lot of vegetables, I push my cart through the produce section of the grocery store and always grab my staples. Asparagus, broccoli, carrots, onions, garlic, spinach, peppers, mushrooms, sometimes cauliflower or cabbage or sweet potatoes, green onions, zucchini... all delicious and nutritious, but I sometimes feel the need to break out of my box a little bit and try something new. So this week, I grabbed a bag of baby bok choy. I've never tried bok choy before, but after watching this video on youtube, I felt pretty confident that I could try it. And you know what? It was delicious! I loved it! Cory's not home tonight but I'm pretty sure he'll like it too. Eli wouldn't touch it but I didn't push him too hard, he decided not to take a nap today after a 10 minute snooze in the car so he's a bit touchy. I'm giving him lots of space. That means toast for supper. Anyway, I was so pleased that it turned out to be so delicious and that excites me. What else is out there? What world of delicious vegetables am I missing out on? I'm going to make more of an effort, especially once the farmers markets are open for the summer, to try some different things that I might not have thought of before.

After supper tonight I had a serious craving for ice cream (which is why I don't keep it in the house!), so I decided to do battle with my blender and make myself a mango lassi. My blender leaks terribly, which is why I almost never dig it out because it involves having to stuff paper towel all around the seal before using it. I asked for a new one for my birthday though (July) so I'm hoping I get that :) Anyway, the mango lassi is fantastic and very much satisfied my ice cream craving. Just frozen mango chunks, plain yogurt, honey and a squirt of lime juice. Thick and creamy and sweet. Perfect.

One last food related note: due to my blender's breakdown I no longer am able to make my favourite pancakes, but until I can start making those again I've been making a (very) adapted version of Pioneer Woman's sour cream pancakes, from her cookbook. I'm going to share it here, because I've changed the recipe enough that I don't think I'm breaking copyright or anything. I don't even think you CAN copyright a recipe actually. Anyway, here's what I do. We had these for breakfast this morning, yummy!

Whole Wheat Yogurt Pancakes
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
2/3 cup flour (whole wheat and/or spelt, I use a mixture)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat your skillet to medium and get out some butter for the pan. Place the yogurt, flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and stir together gently until just combined. Lumps are fine. In a seperate bowl or glass measuring cup, beat the eggs and vanilla with a fork. Add to the batter and stir very gently. It's ok if it's not completely combined and there's still some swirling. Using lots of butter in the pan, add by the 1/4 cup and cook 2-3 minutes per side. Keep warm in the oven while you make the rest. Makes about 10 pancakes. Serve with maple syrup.

I love this recipe because it includes plain yogurt (super good for you!), lots of eggs for protein, and no sugar or baking powder. I try to avoid baking powder if possible because of the aluminum and other chemicals in it.

I was going to write about things other than food, but I have a little boy to get into bed now. Another time...

Modern Medicine

2011-03-22T21:22:00.000-03:00

Bear with me here: I'm going to take a few minutes to whine and complain about our health care system. Then it will be out of my system and I can go back to being grateful for free health care and modern technology.

When a woman is pregnant in New Brunswick, she is scheduled for an ultrasound to check on the baby some time in the range of 18-20 weeks. Except, in my case, I guess the doctor thought it would be more convenient for all concerned to just send me in a week or so early, to get it done before Christmas. Thinking that the doctor, of course, knew best, I went along with this plan. Showed up for my ultrasound, excited to find out the gender of the baby, only to be told once we got in that the doctor had scheduled me too early in the pregnancy and not only was it too early to find out the sex, but also several key factors of growth and development were still too tiny to be seen clearly and I would have to come back in a couple weeks. Ok, fine. What they didn't tell me was that my placenta was lying quite low in the uterus. While this is a problem that will normally correct itself, it is something that needs to be monitored because in the odd chance it doesn't fix itself, a C-section will be needed.

On to my second ultrasound - where I am still blissfully unaware of this placenta problem. Ultrasound goes well, we find out we're having another boy, technician tells us that everything looks great, we go home.

Meanwhile, I am now seeing the OB/GYN on a regular basis. I see her once or twice more after the ultrasound, where again she affirms that everything is great and doesn't breathe a word about low-lying placentas. Skip to a month ago, I go in for my routine appointment and she tells me that just by-the-way, I have a low placenta which they noticed at the first ultrasound, but decided not to tell me about because they figured it would be better by the second ultrasound, but it still wasn't quite clear so I'm going to have to go in for a third ultrasound.

Fast forward to today - ultrasound number three. In order to get there, I had to arrange for Eli to go to friends for the day, drive Cory into work, hang around town waiting for my appointment for two and a half hours, then torture myself by drinking copious amounts of water and holding it. I finally get there and get in, and the technician says "So... you're here to check on a low-lying placenta?" I responded in the affirmative, and she said "Haven't you had two ultrasounds already?" Again affirmative. "That's funny, according to my report the problem was fixed at the second ultrasound." I told her that wasn't what the obstetrician had said, and she said "Well, that's just what my report said, oh well we'll go ahead and double check anyway." She was very sweet and confirmed again that it definitely is a boy.

As far as ultrasounds go, the three that I've had this pregnancy at the Regional have all been positive experiences with kind technicians and a good system - as opposed to the ultrasound at St. Joe's last pregnancy which sucked - it's just ridiculous that they can't seem to get their act together. If the original doctor had just scheduled my appointment for the correct time, I would have avoided having the other two. If the hospital was close by and/or Cory's work schedule was more flexible it wouldn't be such a big deal, but it's a real pain to find someone to watch Eli, work out the car between us, Cory had to get time off for the first two to be with me (he didn't bother this time!), and it's almost an hour's drive from our house!

Anyway, I'm done whining. That's my story. Now I am going to be more positive and cheerful and just appreciate the doctors that I have. Even though they seem to be continually sending me for tests and blood work "just to check" when there is nothing wrong with me. If I could have a platform, it would be Pregnancy is not a Disease.

But as my dear husband keeps reminding me, if something were to go wrong, it would be a huge blessing to have the system we have. "Modern medicine," despite its drawbacks, miscommunications and over-diagnosis, saves a lot of lives. I just have to put my foot down a little more about some of the unnecessary interventions.

And I'm done. Thankful for a healthy, growing, 3lb 13oz. baby boy in my belly. Thankful for God's blessing of a healthy pregnancy. And even thankful for doctors, despite my complaints.

Cutest Moments

2011-03-21T20:31:00.000-03:00

Today had two adorable, heart melting moments with Eli. He's growing up so fast!

The first one came when I walked into the living room and found him sitting in our blue armchair, flipping through his Jesus Storybook Bible and babbling away. This would seem pretty normal to anyone else, but you have to know that I keep that book on a high shelf where he can't reach it so that he won't destroy it, so for him to have it means he climbed up the armchair to get it, and also that Cory sits in the blue armchair with him every night and reads it to him. So essentially, he was doing his devotions all by himself. Too cute. He was very proud of himself. I still took it away from him and sent him off to find something else to do, five minutes later I found him playing with the stapler. Hint: that was not heart melting moment #2.

Heart melting moment #2 came while I was making dinner. We have a pot scrubber that he's discovered he can reach if I leave it too close to the edge of the sink (which I always seem to do) and I am constantly taking it away from him and reminding him not to touch it. In the meanwhile he manages to drip dirty dish water all over the floor. This happened again tonight, I disciplined him and put it out of reach, and he stood in the middle of the kitchen and wailed his little heart out for a few minutes. I continued making dinner. After a few minutes the wailing stopped, and I turned around to see that he had gotten the dishtowel off the oven door and was wiping up the water that he had dripped on the floor for me. This is the part where my heart melts. I've never even showed him how to wipe up water before, I've always just sighed and done it myself, but he must have picked it up from seeing me do it and thought that this would reconcile our relationship. It worked. I dropped everything and hugged and kissed him until he was thoroughly over-rewarded.

I realize that everyone thinks their child is the cutest in the world. I am no exception. I don't think I deceive myself into thinking that he is some sort of baby genius for figuring out how to wipe up the floor for me, but it's so neat to watch him grow and learn, and to see character traits develop in him. It blew me away that at the tender age of 18 months, he's able to see where he's gone wrong and attempt to correct it by himself, without being shown how. Watching a little person grow up has got to be one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. I am so looking forward to the years and the surprises to come. And I can't wait for Baby Boy #2 to join our family and watch him grow too.

Only 10 more weeks now! Less if he's early like Eli was. Pregnancy update: back to the OB today. Another ultrasound tomorrow, apparently I had a slightly low placenta at the first ultrasound. This problem usually rectifies itself as the womb grows, they just want to double check and make sure it's out of the way so I'll be able to deliver normally. I'm not super worried about it yet, but I do want to avoid a c-section if at all possible. Not my idea of fun. I now weigh 155.2 lbs. I checked my baby book today and saw that I weighed 152 lbs at 30 weeks last pregnancy. That's great considering I started out this pregnancy 10 lbs heavier than I did last time. So I've gained less overall. I'm pleased with that. I could probably have gained even less if I could stop eating chocolate for 30 minutes. I don't get weird cravings in pregnancy, my sweet tooth just multiplies ten-fold. It's been nice being home this time around though, and making baked goods from whole wheat and honey instead of the KitKat Chunkies and Tim Horton's chocolate chip muffins I ate last time around. I've managed to stay away from those at least, even if I can't keep myself away from the chocolate chips. When I'm not pregnant, they just stay in the cupboard, I'm not even tempted. When I am pregnant? Look out chocolate chips.

And that's my update for today. My son and my pregnancy. Can you tell what my world revolves around these days?

Parenting

2011-03-15T13:00:00.000-03:00

Oh parenting. Why is it such a guilt trip? Sometimes I wish I could be completely confident in my parenting, not worrying about whether or not I'm making the right decisions when it comes to discipline, scheduling, sleeping, eating, play time, etc. But then I think that if I really thought I had it all together, I would probably be even farther off base than I actually am.
Constant re-evaluating is good for the soul. I think that's what parenting by faith is all about. Sure I have certain ideas about certain subjects. I have my own opinion on what is permissible behavior in my child and what isn't. But I try to be open to God's leading as situations arise, and to rely on him to guide me even in little things.
After the time change I decided to try one nap a day again. It went pretty well yesterday and he's down for his one nap again today right now. This does, however, mean that by lunch time he's getting a little cranky. I was scrambling up some eggs for us for lunch today when he bumped his head or something in the dining room. I didn't see exactly what happened, but there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth. I picked him up and cuddled him and he stopped wailing after about 30 seconds. This telling me that he wasn't really very hurt, I put him back down so I could finish the eggs and fix the rest of our lunch. He didn't take too kindly to this, the screams were renewed and he followed me around the kitchen as I tried to cook, wrapping himself around my legs so that every time I needed to move I had to detach him so he wouldn't be knocked over. Honestly? I felt like yelling at him. It was really frustrating, knowing that there was nothing whatsoever wrong with him except that he was cranky and felt like having his own way. But I took a deep breath, calmly detached him from my knees yet again and sat him in the corner. We haven't really done "time-out" yet, he's so far been too young to understand it at all so it would have been pretty ineffective, but the situation seemed to call for some corner time today. It worked great! No he didn't stop crying right away, if anything he cried louder, but he sat there for a few minutes until he stopped wailing, then got up and came back over to me. I gave him a hug and a few kisses, then went back to making lunch. The screams recommenced - back in the corner. This time it didn't take very long for him to stop crying, get up and get over himself. Peace again. I think "corner time" might become a more regular part of our discipline routine after today.
I've struggled since before he was one with knowing what to do with a screaming, angry baby who had no good reason to be upset except that the world wasn't revolving around him. There didn't seem to be much I could do with him but either ignore it, try to distract him or give in to him, none of which options were very effective. Now that he's 18 months, I'm hoping we can try to curb this before it gets too bad. Not that I'm naive enough to assume that I can simply correct this behavior before he's two and then never have to deal with it the rest of his life, he's a little sinner and selfishness will forever be a struggle, for me as well as him, but the screaming fits are what I'm hoping to at least minimize, if not eliminate totally.
In Baby #2 news, I continue to grow more massive by the day. I'm pretty sure this belly is a lot bigger than it was the first time around, and that's saying something. I've noticed the first few little signs of water retention around my ankles... ugh. I had elephant ankles with Eli, but that was in the middle of summer. Since this one is due to make an appearance in May, I'm hoping that the swelling won't get too bad since it won't be so hot. Also my hips have already started to spread and loosen with this one. I'll be 30 weeks on Friday, and I'm sure it did not happen this early with Eli. I'm praying that I avoid the extreme pain I had in my left hip at the end of the last pregnancy, when it was so bad I had to start walking with a cane. That was only for the week before he was born, but it was plenty long enough, and I didn't have a toddler to take care of back then. I spent the last couple weeks in and out of a cold bath tub with a good book when I was pregnant with him. That is no longer an option.

But enough blogging for now, I have to get a chicken in the oven for supper and try to straighten the house a little bit in these precious couple of nap time hours. We're leaving Eli with an official babysitter for the first time in his little life tonight. We've left him with grandparents or with families in the church before, but always at their house. Tonight we're putting him down and leaving babysitter in charge. Mind you, he'll be sound asleep and we'll be across the street at the church, and only (I hope!) for an hour or two, but it is just another milestone to record.

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

2011-03-06T09:25:00.000-04:00

Another one that I must write down before I forget what I did. We love these spicy chocolate muffins, and the zucchini keeps them nice and moist. I've heard lots of people say that this is a good way to sneak in some vegetables, I'm a little dubious about this since I don't think zucchini has a TON of nutritional value, and there's only 1 cup in a dozen chocolate muffins. There are better ways to get your vegetables than hiding them in dessert, but these are awfully yummy, and sugar free and whole wheat (as always!). Cory served them to his men's Bible Study without telling them that they were healthy and they all loved them. That's the real test! Here's the recipe:

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
1/2 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
dash nutmeg
dash cloves
1 cup grated zucchini
optional: 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (so not healthy, but soooo yummy)

Throw all the ingredients except the zucchini and chips into the stand mixer. Mix, then stir in zucchini and optional chocolate chips by hand. Drop by quarter cup into greased muffin tins (or lined with a cupcake paper, if you're lazy like me). Bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. It's always 25 minutes for me. Makes a dozen muffins.

And for this one, don't skip the toothpick test. I usually just eyeball things to see if they're done, but these take a little more TLC to make sure you don't have raw batter in there.

A yummy, reasonably healthy treat great for a quick breakfast on the go, as a dessert for Cory's lunch, or a mid-afternoon snack with coffee. Yesterday Cory pulled one out, spooned Chocolate Pudding all over it and downed it. I take it as a compliment to my cooking!

Tasty Kitchen

2011-03-03T11:01:00.000-04:00

I love Pioneer Woman! I've blogged about her before, but I had to reiterate. I really, really love her website. I love "Confessions" - her random collections of thoughts about what's going on in her life. I love the recipes, the unashamed use of butter and cream in copious amounts. I love the step-by-step photos that show you how to go about making the recipe. For a newly married woman setting out to learn how to cook, this proved invaluable. I could cook when I got married, I wasn't really worried about it, but I've learned so much more from her website. A whole new world of ingredients that I had never tried, or techniques that I had never heard of. I grew up in a home where we didn't eat steak. Neither of my parents cared for it, so I never learned what a proper steak should look like, or how to cook one. This wasn't going to cut it when I married Cory. I had to learn to cook steak. Through some trial and error, and with PW's help, I can now cook a delicious, cooked-to-perfection, medium rare steak, just the way we like it.
Even though I'm not a picture taker myself, I love the photography section of her website. I usually skip on the tutorials, but I love looking at all the contest entry pictures, and I always enter the giveaways in hopes that if I DID have a good camera, I could learn to take good pictures.
I really appreciate the homeschooling blog. I am so excited to homeschool my boys when they get older, and it's good to have that blog to get me thinking about different issues that I haven't thought of yet.
And then there's Tasty Kitchen! I don't spend a ton of time on here, I always enter the giveaways (though I have yet to win), but it can be a good source for recipes as well. Today I'm sharing one of my all time favourites, this one for Chocolate Pudding. I just finished making a batch and it's chilling in the fridge. I can't wait to dig in! For once, here is a recipe that I don't have to tweak to make it healthier, it already is! Ok ok, I confess - I replace the cornstarch with arrowroot. But that's it! And for me, that's not a lot of tweaking! I just hate cornstarch... genetically modified hyper processed junk. Arrowroot is simply that, a root. Dried and ground up. No heat, no chemicals to extract anything, just natural goodness. And you can substitute it for cornstarch one to one, no need to mess with the rest of the recipe. I get mine at Bulk Barn.
Anyway, while you're checking out that pudding recipe, look at some of the other recipes that user "ericalea" has posted. She seems to be a girl after my own heart - natural sweeteners, good fats, whole wheat, etc. I already use her Favourite 100% Whole Wheat Bread recipe for all our bread, and I'm excited to try her recipes for pasta and pizza dough. I already make those things whole wheat anyway, but I always just take white flour recipes and replace with whole wheat. It might be nice to try a recipe that's actually designed to work with whole wheat!
I guess that's all I had to blog about today really. Eli has a slight cold, but it's only manifesting itself in his nose, poor kid. He seems to feel fine, but his nasal passages are a veritable faucet of lovely mucus. I've been calling him "Snot-Face Vail" since yesterday morning. He doesn't seem to mind.
He's starting to sort of say more words. We met with a speech language pathologist the other week, and while he is behind for his age, she really wasn't worried about it, and neither am I. His comprehension is just fine, I can say things like "Go to your room and pick up that shirt and put it in the laundry" and he will, it's just a matter of laziness I think. He's in no big hurry to talk since he can usually make himself understood by pointing and chirping. But in the past week he's started babbling non-stop, and even though he still mostly just says "Mama" and "Dada," I've discovered that those words have alternate meanings. "Mama" can mean just that, or it can mean "more" or "milk," while "Dada" can mean Daddy, or "dinosaur," or "dog." One of his favourite books to read is Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? and he likes the page where it says "dibble dibble dibble DOP!" so today when I was reading it to him I noticed that he was trying to say DOP like me. So cute! My personal favourite though is that he has started saying "HI!!!" very enthusiastically when Cory gets home from work. He throws his arms over his head, runs to the door and says HI! HI! over and over. Cory loves getting such an enthusiastic greeting. Who wouldn't?

Chicken Spinach Lasagna

2011-03-02T08:44:00.000-04:00

I wish sometimes that I were good at taking photos so I could include interesting pictures with my blog posts. But the truth is, all we have is a little Fujifilm point and shoot, and I'm not very good at using it to boot. So our pictures are all just so-so. This is hard when you have a little one that you are trying to snap pictures of, it's so hard to get him to smile or hold a cute pose and then just when you get the perfect cute smile or pose, that picture is blurry or dark.
But this is beyond the scope of what I actually mean to post about, the Chicken Spinach Lasagna I made last night. It was a big hit in our family and I'll definitely be making it again. There are lots of recipes out there on the internet for this, but they all called for cream of mushroom soup (which I don't keep in the house, too much corn starch and other junk!), and/or ricotta, which is wonderful stuff but I just didn't have any on hand. That being said, this recipe would probably be even yummier with a few layers of ricotta or cottage cheese in it too, just stir in a beaten egg, some parmesan and chopped herbs and you'd be good to go. But this is how I made it, and we all LOVED it. As always, all measurements are very approximate!

Chicken Spinach Lasagna
1 small onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 a head of broccoli
1/2 package mushrooms
Finely dice all vegetables and saute for a few minutes in olive oil, until soft...ish.
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup chicken broth
1 egg, beaten
Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat. Sprinkle in flour, whisk constantly for 5 minutes until roux is slightly browned. Stir in milk, cream and broth. Continue whisking constantly until sauce starts to thicken. Temper the egg by slowly drizzling 1/4 of sauce into it while beating vigorously. Then pour egg mixture into sauce.
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy
1 1/2 cups cooked diced leftover chicken
Sauteed vegetables from above
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
Add to sauce and stir.
12 whole wheat lasagna noodles
2 cups grated mozzerella
Fresh organic baby spinach

Now assemble! I don't cook the noodles ahead of time, lots of people do, but I've had more success just soaking them in cold water for 10-20 minutes while I get the rest of the lasagna ready. Easier that way too!
In a 9x13 casserole dish, layer 4 noodles, 1/3 of the sauce/veggie/chicken mixture, a generous layer of baby spinach, and 1 cup mozzerella. Repeat. Then layer 4 more noodles, the last of the sauce, and sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top. Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes, remove the foil and bake 10 more minutes. Take it out of the oven and let it stand for 10-15 minutes before serving.

Very yummy and a big hit around these parts! Would have been even better if I'd had a salad to serve with it, but I didn't have any lettuce on hand. Please note that I write these recipes up as much for my own benefit as for others, since I like inventing meals but don't have a great memory and can never remember what I did the next time I want to cook something. Now I can look back the next time I have leftover chicken and remember what I did!

60

2011-02-22T15:29:00.000-04:00

I have sixty blog posts now. That's not a huge number, but I felt I had to lead into this post somehow.

I don't think I'm a very cohesive blogger. I don't have a well thought out, single topic to write about for each post, just my random collections of thoughts about what's been going on in my life lately.

Like laundry. Does it never end? I mean, I know it doesn't, but after spending pretty much an entire day yesterday doing laundry I just wanted a little break from it today. But I was running low on diapers. And in a few more days it will all begin again. Having a husband whose job is "lab technician" would make you think he wouldn't get very dirty at work. I don't know about you, but when I picture a lab technician I picture someone in a white lab coat with an eyedropper and a microscope. However, my husband is a lab tech at a concrete factory. He shovels concrete into wheelbarrows, makes cylinder samples, uses big tools and cleans his work area with a pickax and a huge hose. And gets thoroughly coated in concrete in the process. Then he comes home and I have to do the laundry. Let me tell you, dried on concrete does not come off of pants. I don't care what kind of heavy duty detergent you use, the dried on stuff ain't gonna budge. But I've learned to embrace it. Gives the pants character. While I'm on the laundry topic I thought I would share my new favourite thing - Soap Nuts. Saw these on Dragon's Den, and while I don't think they got a deal (I don't remember...), they had an excellent pitch because I immediately looked them up and ordered some. First time I've ever done that watching TV! I like them because there are no chemicals! In my quest to eliminate chemicals from our house this is a big step. Think about it, whatever you wash your clothes in remains in the fabric, which is then held against your skin all day every day. Hmmm. Even though I was using a scent and dye free detergent, I like this better. I haven't found that my clothes are amazingly softer or miraculously more clean or anything, I just find that it works just as well as my old detergent, which is plenty good enough for me. At $35.00 for a bag it seemed pricey to me at first, but considering you get between 300-400 loads of laundry per bag, that's about 10 cents a load, significantly cheaper than store bought detergent. Works for me. I've been washing my diapers with them too, and that's the real test. If they can get my diapers clean then I'm sold. I HATED using detergent on diapers, I always found it would build up and make them stink so I've been washing with baking soda and vinegar for a while now but was finding that they were starting to smell really vinegary. Problem solved.

My other "green living" endeavor, the no shampoo thing, continues to improve. I definitely think I'm going to stick with it. My hair feels healthier, my eczema has improved, though not gone away completely (ultimately I don't think shampoo was the culprit, just irritated it), and I don't look like a grease head anymore. I'm satisfied with this experiment and am now converted.

One more thing: this. And that's all I'm going to say. I'm sure you all already think I'm weird enough without me adding details.

Now that the laundry is done the kitchen is beckoning me to come scrub some pots and get supper on the go (pork chops, crash hot potatoes and a salad!), and I think Eli and I are going to share some organic apple slices for our snack. Until post #61...

V-day and B-day

2011-02-17T11:09:00.001-04:00

I would feel out of place if I didn't blog about Valentines Day this year, but there's really not a lot to talk about. I was wiped out with a vicious cold over the weekend, even had to miss church on Sunday (and I have to be pretty sick to miss church!), so I really wasn't feeling super romantic. Cory has been struggling with illness for several weeks now, but still made an effort. He told me that he wanted to take me out for supper that night, and I kind of sighed and thought about Valentines Day crowds and having to take Eli to his mom's for her to watch and how expensive it is to eat out... and I asked him if we could just stay home instead. He was fine with that. Since he'd already given me my Kindle, and the gift I'd ordered him on Amazon didn't come in until today (of COURSE), we didn't have gifts to exchange either. It was still a nice night though, he picked up takeout from Swiss Chalet on his way home so I wouldn't have to cook dinner, we put Eli to bed and watched a movie on Netflix and it was altogether a nice, relaxing evening just the two of us. I'm really not a big holiday kind of girl anyway. If you anticipate too much you just end up feeling disappointed. That's why I really don't expect much on birthdays, Christmas, Valentines Day... then when Cory does do something romantic it's a huge surprise to me and it's even better.
We just signed up for a free month of Netflix, and I'm loving that thing so far. I think we might keep it, at $7.99 a month we're saving money even if we only rented two movies a month, and now we can watch as many as we want, plus it's got a lot of Veggie Tales movies and Barney and stuff like that that Eli likes, and TV shows! We watched Bewitched, the newer movie with Will Ferrell. Cute, funny, and we enjoyed it much more than if we'd just picked something out of the small selection downstairs. By "downstairs" I mean the gas station. We live above a gas station, just in case anyone didn't know, and I always refer to it as "downstairs." Even when I'm not at home and I'm somewhere else I'll say dumb things like "Oh they sell that downstairs you can just get some there." And then everyone looks at me funny. Not that they should talk, everyone else in Browns Flat just calls it "The Store," which makes about as much sense to a non-Browns Flatter as "downstairs" does. I love our small country community!
Sorry, sidetracked. Anyway, that was our Valentines. It was sweet, cozy, and simple. Just the way I like it :)
Cory's birthday is on Saturday (he'll be 25!) so we might end up going for dinner then. Probably Pizza Delight, very fancy and elegant, since it's eat-free-on-your-birthday. Two of my sisters are going to be visiting too. Should be a nice weekend.
And now, housework calls. And I really should wake up the little boy before he sleeps the entire morning away and refuses to let me get anything done this afternoon. Until next time...

Beginning...

2011-02-08T13:13:00.001-04:00

I was laughing as I e-mailed a friend the other day to ask her some toilet training advice. We had known each other as teenagers, and I don't think we ever thought then how soon it would be that we would be sending each other nursing covers as gifts, or having facebook conversations about the bodily functions of our children. How quickly things change!

I decided to buy Eli a little potty the other day. However, I can't say the word "potty" without flinching - one of those things - so I call it his toilet. I set it by the real toilet in the bathroom. I had been enjoying the fact that Eli is old enough now that I can go into the bathroom and shut the door for a minute or two of alone time, but I decided to give that up in the name of bathroom education. His has a cover, like ours, so I've been getting him to come in, lift the lid, and sit on the toilet like Mommy and Daddy. Then he can shut it again. He's caught on really quickly and likes it! I can call him and ask if he wants to come use the bathroom and wherever he is in the house he'll come running. He's still fully clothed while he uses it, but it's a start. At least I'm trying to get him interested. I've been thinking lately that if he can go get me a cloth and a diaper and lie down for change time why can't he come use the toilet? Might as well give it a shot.

Interesting fact: in the 1950's, almost 100% of children wore cloth diapers and 95% of these children were trained by the age of 18 months. In the 1980's, about 50% of children wore cloth diapers, while the other 50% wore disposable diapers and only about 50% of children were potty trained by the age of 18 months. Nowadays, 95% of children wear disposables and only 10% are trained by 18 months. People scoff at you if you bring up the idea of training your child before they're 2 or 3, because popular opinion states that you shouldn't hurry your child or pressure them at all. Just wait until they're "ready." To me, this essentially seems like waiting until the child can virtually toilet train themselves. I can't speak from experience here as I've never actually successfully trained a child, but I'm so far just not convinced that it's impossible to do it younger, or that the child will end up traumatized by your efforts. I've read a lot about "elimination communication," and while I decided not to go that route with my child, it seems to me that if these people can successfully have their child toilet trained by around 3 months old, why on earth can't I do it with my 17 month old?

He's been in cloth diapers since he was a month old, so I've got that on my side too. Disposables mean it's a lot harder for a child to feel if they're wet. He'll let me know now if he needs a diaper change by fussing and grabbing his diaper, so he obviously knows when he's wet.

Anyway, I haven't started yet at all, but when I do I'm leaning toward the bare bottom approach that some people advocate. Basically it means letting him run around naked. I don't think pull ups would be very effective, since they're basically the same as a diaper, and even underwear (which they don't make in his size, I've checked!) would feel like a diaper. So for at least three days it's bare bum all the way. Sure there will be accidents, but they learn a lot quicker when they can see what's going on down there.

I'm going to give it another week or so and then suck it up and dive in. If we fail miserably... then we fail miserably and I can always go back to diapers. I'm not going to worry about it too much.

Just some thoughts... again it strikes me funny that toilet training is such a pressing issue on my mind, but I suppose that honest blogging is just talking about what I've been thinking about lately, and that would be toilet training!

Ecstatic

2011-02-05T20:42:00.001-04:00

So apparently, Cory bought me a Christmas present. We had decided no presents this year, but I didn't realize that he had already ordered me something. Unfortunately for him, it didn't come in time for Christmas, he didn't get it until a couple weeks ago. Then he was going to wait for Valentines Day but... he couldn't wait. So last night, out of the blue, he pulled it out.

He got me a Kindle.

SO EXCITED.

I've wanted one for months but thought it was somewhat too frivolous to really expect, and I probably should be asking for a new blender or something like that. I've been playing with my new toy all day and I love it. My first book? Black Heels to Tractor Wheels by PW. Guess what? It's over $8 cheaper to get it on the Kindle than a hard copy. I've found loads of free books... you can buy the complete collected works - 51 in total - of Charles Dickens for THREE DOLLARS. Complete works of Shakespeare? Two dollars.

So in the long run, I think it will save me a lot of money and be totally worth it. Plus it's like the coolest gadget I've ever owned. It will hold up to 3,500 books! I can get newspapers, magazines, you name it. Lots of older books that are out of copyright are available for free download, it's got dictionaries, I can put the Bible on it... I'm beyond excited.

So best Christmas/Valentines Day present ever? Very yes.

Naptime

2011-02-01T10:12:00.001-04:00

Naptime is confusing and frustrating me!!

Eli still takes two naps a day... sort of not really. He wants to go down at 10, naps for about an hour then gets up. But I'm having a harder and harder time getting him down for his nap at 2 - I'll put him down and hear him playing happily in his crib, but not sleeping, for about half an hour, when he starts to get bored and wails to get up. I've been leaving him hoping that he will sleep and he'll kind of doze/wail for another half an hour until he gets too frustrated and starts actually yelling and I have to go get him up. Then by bedtime he's exhausted and cranky!

So I want to start trying to just skip the morning nap and put him down around 1. I've done this successfully a few times, but he SHOULD be napping about 2 hours if I do that, and he won't! He still only naps like an hour, and then is SUPER tired by bedtime.

Today I was determined he would skip his morning nap, but at 10 he walked into his room, rattled the bars of his crib and looked at me plaintively. I asked him if he wanted to take a nap, and he responded in the affirmative. I took him back out and changed him to see if he wouldn't perk up a bit, but he rubbed his eyes and immediately toddled back into his room. When I put him in his crib he happily smiled and flopped down. What do you do with that? I feel so sorry for him when he's obviously so tired and wants to sleep and I'm forcing him to stay awake.

Been Googling this problem and a few people suggested trying to push back the time of his morning nap by about 10-15 minutes every day or two and just forgetting about the afternoon nap if he really doesn't want to take it. Maybe I'll try that.

Tomorrow is playgroup (if it isn't canceled because of weather) so we'll be out in the morning and he won't get the morning nap. He does fine if we're out somewhere because it's exciting enough for him.

I'm sure this will work itself all out soon enough, and I probably should be a little more relaxed about the whole thing, it's just hard when you don't know what to do...

Banana Bread

2011-01-31T13:00:00.001-04:00

Need to write down this recipe quickly before I forget it - I just made, hands down, the most deliciously healthy banana bread I've ever had. I have an old standby recipe for banana bread that we love, but today I decided to play around with it to see if I couldn't come up with something better, and hit GOLD. This is the most moist and delicious banana bread I have ever tasted in my life, and this is just day one! I usually find that baked goods taste best the day after they're made, but I'm not sure this could possibly get any better. Anyway, I'm quickly writing down the changes I made before they leave my head!

Emily's Own (Healthy!) Banana Bread
1 stick (1/2 cup) softened butter
3/4 cup raw honey
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 large fresh egg
2 ripe organic bananas
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups healthy flour (I used a combination of 1 cup stone ground whole wheat, 1/2 cup stone ground spelt, 1/4 cup kamut and 1/4 cup quinoa, but all whole wheat would be great too!)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional but I love them - not going to pretend they're healthy though! You could also use 1 cup of chopped nuts to keep it strictly sugar free.)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In the stand mixer, cream the butter and honey until smooth. Add the bananas, cream until smooth. Add yogurt and egg and combine. Add baking soda, salt and vanilla, blend. Add flour and stir on low just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon into well greased loaf pan or muffin tins. Bake 20-25 minutes for muffins, or 50-55 minutes for a loaf, depending on the size.

For me this made enough for one large-ish loaf and 6 muffins, but you could do all muffins or divide between two smaller loaf pans or whatever. All I know is, I'm never going back to the original recipe which called for white flour and sugar. This honestly tastes better than that recipe. I think I've found a new classic for our family :)

Homemade Sour Cream

2011-01-31T11:21:00.001-04:00

Technically this is a sort of "creme fraiche" as opposed to real sour cream, but it tastes great, couldn't be easier to make, and is a much healthier alternative to store bought sour cream. If you read the label on store bought sour cream you'll see that it says in the small print "Artificially soured." That means it's not really sour cream, just cream with some additives to give it that sour taste and a lot of thickeners to make it creamy. Once you start buying the low fat versions it gets even worse. Without the natural fat of the cream to make it thick you're looking at a lot of chemicals. No thanks! One final bonus? You can use a glass jar and avoid the plastic container leaching BPA into the food!
When I found this method for making my own and saw how easy it is and how well it works, I rejoiced. I haven't done a cost breakdown to see if this is a lot cheaper, but I'm pretty sure it is.
Method: Use a ratio of 1 cup of cream to 1 tablespoon of cultured buttermilk. You can pick which cream to use, I always use whipping cream (35%) because the higher fat makes a thicker and better tasting sour cream, but you can also use coffee cream (18%) or even cereal cream (10%), your sour cream just won't be as thick. Grab a clean glass jar, pour in your cream and buttermilk, stir to combine, put the lid on and let it sit totally undisturbed at room temperature for anywhere from 12-24 hours. I've found a lot of variation in this, it seems to depend a lot on how warm the house is etc., but you know it's done when you pick up the jar and the cream is almost solid looking in the jar. That is, you can tip the jar and it doesn't slosh. Stick it in the fridge for a few hours to firm up a bit more, then enjoy! It doesn't keep quite as long as the store bought stuff, but you can make a smaller quantity if you know you aren't going to need much.
I love having homemade sour cream in the fridge to top soups or Mexican food. We're having seafood chowder for dinner tonight - I might even stir a bit into that! The enzymes in the cultured cream help your body to digest your food more effectively. Plus it's delicious!
I used some of my sour cream yesterday to make a yummy after-church snack, some dip for baby carrots. It's sooo simple: about equal parts sour cream and mayonnaise (I make mine with olive oil so super good for you!) and some Mrs. Dash Original. Add a pinch of sea salt if you feel like it. What a yummy way to eat carrots, and in this case the dip actually helps your body to better digest the raw carrots, so you wind up with more nutritional benefit to your body than if you ate the carrots plain. Tastes better AND is better for me? Yes please!

Weird

2011-01-28T16:54:00.001-04:00

Pregnancy can be so weird. Everyone claims that they can tell you "what they don't tell you about being pregnant," but in my experience everyone is SO different there's no possible way that one person can fill you in on everything you need to know. No matter how much you read and prepare, your body is going to do weird things that isn't in the books.

Take me for example. Pregnancy for me = a perpetual nosebleed. Not gushing blood or anything (at least not most of the time), but I think all that extra blood in my system thinks it has to come out somewhere so I'm constantly blowing my nose and blood comes out. Too gross for the internet? Sorry. But it's a fact.

More blood: this one I actually did read about in a pregnancy book, "pink toothbrush." Sensitive gums mean that your mouth might bleed a little while brushing your teeth. A little? Try spitting out mouthfuls of blood every time you brush and feeling like you got punched in the face, more like.

Thirdly, the onions. When I'm not pregnant, chopping onions doesn't bother me one bit. I dice away, throw them in the pot and never think twice about it. When I am pregnant, I can barely handle it. I just cut the top of the onion and the tears start flowing, I have to stop several times just to clear my vision enough to see the onion that I'm chopping, my already full nose starts running like a faucet and I can hardly keep it together.

I don't know why pregnancy has to be so strange and mysterious, but I do know that despite its downsides, it is totally worth it in the end. I know this because otherwise I would NOT be doing it over again. Women who sign up to be surrogate mothers blow my mind... never mind the whole question of ethics and giving up your own baby, I just can't imagine choosing to be pregnant if you didn't want the baby yourself. Yuck!

In other news and thoughts, today I went snowshoeing for the first time! It was such a beautiful day I had to take Eli outside, and normally we would just go over to the church but I saw a friend's kids playing outside and they adore Eli so I took him over there to play. He wasn't too keen on the whole thing, but then Holly came out with her skis and I borrowed a pair of snowshoes and we went tromping around the back field, her son pulling Eli in the sled. I'm still not sure how much Eli liked the whole ordeal, but I had a great time. I still haven't broken out my own skis and learned how, but it's one of my goals for the winter. Must learn to ski! Hoping tomorrow is a nice day...

Playgroup

2011-01-26T13:15:00.001-04:00

I did it! I broke out of my comfortable rut of routine and took Eli to playgroup this morning at the Browns Flat School. I've been meaning to do this for a long time, I really wanted to meet other moms in the area, but I just find it so hard to buck up, call the school (I DESPISE making phone calls), and GO. I had so many excuses... it's right during Eli's naptime, it messes up our routine for the day etc., but I knew that I just needed to get out a little more. I really do like meeting new people, and I love getting out of the house, but that is balanced by my hatred of new places or buildings. I usually avoid unfamiliar stores like the plague. This is why I still shop at Superstore, even though Sobeys is closer and more convenient. I know where everything is. The Browns Flat School is hardly a big scary building or anything, and I've been there enough that I knew where I was going, I just kept putting it off. Thank goodness I HAVE been there before or I might never have gone.
Anyway, it was a lot of fun and I was really impressed with the program. I was used to the Mom's group in Grand Bay that I had gone to for a while, which was pretty much completely unstructured. People showed up whenever, left whenever and the kids just played the whole time. Playgroup starts with play time, then a craft, a snack, storytime and songs afterward. Still relaxed enough that I don't feel pressure when my one-year-old wants to wander around rather than sit and colour, but nice to have that structure too. Today they coloured placemats that will be laminated for them next week, had yogurt, crackers, watermelon and juice for snack (I skipped out on the juice...) read a story and sang a few songs. Eli preferred to be a passive listener during the songs, which is fine by me. It was nice to meet a few new people, reconnect with a friend that I don't get to see very often, and just get out of the house. We don't have the car during the day so it's nice that it's within walking distance, even though it takes a lot of energy to bundle up myself and a toddler and get us out the door and down the street (being 22 weeks pregnant doesn't help).
Anyway, I'm excited, proud of myself for actually going, and pleased overall with the whole program. Looking forward to next week!

No Shampoo - Three Weeks Later

2011-01-23T14:22:00.001-04:00

Aaaargh!

This was harder than I thought it was going to be. Vanity sets in very quickly when you have a greasy head of hair and the temptation to grab that bottle of shampoo in the shower gets very strong.

But I committed to a month, so a month it's going to be.

The first couple of weeks have been the hardest, obviously. Drying off your hair and having it look the exact same as it did when you got into the shower is frustrating. There have been a lot of ponytails going on.

But today I was actually brave enough to wear my hair down for church, and you know what? I don't really think you can tell. Slowly but steadily my hair has looked less greasy as time has gone on, rather than more greasy. The dryness of our apartment means that the ends are still static-y, but not as bad as they were when I was shampooing, even though I was also applying conditioner to the ends (I gave that up too).

After three weeks my hair doesn't look (I think) as good as it did when I was shampooing - yet - but the fact that my hair is SO long might also mean it might take a bit longer than for some other people. If after a month I'm still not happy with how it looks I might give the baking soda thing a shot, we'll see.

Aside from that, a few things: I was worried that some of my acne might return if I stopped using head & shoulders. I've used that brand only for years, not because of dandruff but because any other brand I tried gave me acne. Head & shoulders cleared it right up. I've decided that it probably wasn't the head & shoulders that cleared it up, but the absence of some unknown ingredient that was causing it. My skin has remained clear and acne free.

My eczema is, to put it frankly, awful. I have not seen a big improvement in that area like I had hoped, but what I HAVE noticed is that the patches of eczema on my arms and legs are no longer red and inflamed when I get out of the shower like they used to be. It always used to get really bad for a few hours after a shower, and that's gone now. It's just bad all the time, but I think that's a combination of, again, the dry winter weather, the pregnancy (maybe?), and probably some allergies that I don't know about. The rest of my skin, not struggling with eczema, is slightly less dry than it used to be. Hooray!

Cory hasn't noticed. Or if he has noticed, he hasn't said anything about it. I never told him about my experiment, and after three weeks he still hasn't mentioned anything, and the "you smell so good!" compliments haven't gone away. I don't know whether he's just being polite or he truly hasn't noticed. Guess I'll have to let you know when he finally gets around to reading the blog.

So that's my update, just a little less than two weeks to go until my month is up, then I'll make a decision. Some people I know only shampoo once every week or two, maybe I'll end up doing that, who knows. I'll let my hair speak for itself in another couple of weeks!

KitchenAid Stand Mixer

2011-01-19T11:09:00.001-04:00

What did I ever do without that thing? In the past couple of days, I've used it to make:

Mayonnaise
Bread
Cinnamon Buns
Pizza Dough
Tortillas

I am very, very thankful for that machine. It makes life a lot easier, and homemade a lot simpler.

I've been thinking lately about how thankful I am for my kitchen gadgets, but also pondering what I can/will need in the future. Not to be covetous, but I'm just thinking of the days when I will be able to afford a few more things to simplify life even more. A nice knife set, for example. I have a blender that works fine, but it was a cheap one and someday I would like to get a more expensive one that will blend a little more smoothly. I tried to make a smoothie with blackberries in it yesterday and that just didn't work at all, the seeds are much too big and don't get pureed enough. A food processor would be nice, and I really would like to replace all my plastic tupperware with pyrex. I have some, but I'm going to be slowly working on that collection. I finally got myself a new loaf pan the other day! A glass one, now I can make more than one loaf of bread at a time if I want to. Definitely a bonus. Near the top of my list is a grain mill so I can grind my own flour. Those machines are expensive, especially if you get a stone model, but the health benefits of freshly ground grains are not to be underestimated. Plus it would save a lot of money in the long run, buying grain whole is a lot cheaper than buying flour.

This post started with me being thankful and ended with me longing for things I don't have. I don't want you to suppose that I'm unsatisfied with my current possessions, I'm really very content, it's just nice to dream about the future sometimes.

Back to reality... must go wake up that little boy if I want him to take a nap this afternoon. I'm trying to enjoy these last few months before his little brother arrives as much as possible. As excited as I am about my family of two little boys, I'm also wistfully clinging to these last days when it's just me and Eli.

There I go again.

Burgers, Fries and a Salad

2011-01-15T19:02:00.001-04:00

We had this for dinner the other night. Sounds like a pretty simple meal right? Nothing too complicated there. Probably one of those "throw together" meals.
However, when you're dedicated to making as much as possible from scratch, it turns into a bigger deal, and yet WAY healthier. Worth it overall! For our burgers 'n' fries the other night, I started with the ketchup. I've been meaning to experiment with making my own ketchup for a long time to get away from all that sugar. I grabbed an onion, gave it a rough chop and threw it into a saucepan with some olive oil to start to cook down. Peeled three cloves of garlic and added them, whole. Then deglazed with about 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar. Added a large can of whole (or diced or pureed) tomatoes with the juice, about 1/3 or 1/2 cup molasses, some stevia, some fish sauce (but salt would work here), a pinch of cinnamon, dash of cloves and just a shake or two of cayenne pepper. I brought it to a boil and let it bubble away for (I think) around an hour and a half, until it seemed thick enough. I let it cool down enough to put it in the blender, then blended it until smooth. According to the internet, homemade ketchup will keep for about two months, so I put half in a jar in the fridge for now and half in a jar in the freezer for later. We don't eat a ton of ketchup, so I imagine that the one batch will last us the full four months. It is delicious!
As far as other burger toppings go, I already had homemade mayo in the fridge and haven't got as far as making my own mustard or relish yet, so they were still from the grocery store. Would have loved a fresh tomato on our burgers but I didn't have one. Oh well.
Then I made buns. I just use my basic whole wheat bread recipe, make it into buns and brush with olive oil and sprinkle cornmeal on top. Makes fantastically chewy buns!
For the burgers themselves I thawed out a package of ground beef from the freezer and another package of cow's liver. Then I tried out the meat grinder I asked for for Christmas! I used it for the liver so I could mix it into our burgers. Liver is SOsosososo good for you so I'm trying to work it in wherever I can. We're not huge on the taste, don't mind it, but if I can hide it in something else all the better. I found that if the liver had been a bit more on the frozen side it would have ground better, the chunks in the middle that were still frozen went through the easiest, but in the end I had enough to re-freeze half and mix the other half with the beef. Added some salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce and fried up the burgers on my trusty cast iron. We honestly could not even taste the liver, they were so yummy!
For the fries I made oven sweet potato fries. Apart from my frustration at trying to cut up my HUGE sweet potatoes (those things are not easy to get a knife through!), these were very simple. Peel, cut into wedges, toss with olive oil, salt and Mrs. Dash Original. Spread on a foil-lined baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes.
I served it all up with a salad. The other day I tried making my own croutons, then practically hit myself for not doing it before. It was so simple, and such a great way to use up the ends of the loaf! I just cubed some of my homemade bread, tossed with olive oil and salt and Mrs. Dash Garlic & Herb (see a pattern here?), spread on a baking sheet and baked at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, stirring often. So much yummier than store bought, and WAY cheaper! Anyway, my salad was simply romaine, baby carrots, cucumber slices and croutons with whatever dressing you wanted. I normally always make our own dressing before we have salad, but I was honestly a little DIY-ed out after the buns and everything.
Anyways, that was our very yummy dinner the other day. Even though it's a lot more work, it's so much more satisfying to serve up a dinner like that that's delicious and nutritious. Cory was happy, and that's what matters most!