Mom's Lunch

Does this picture need explaining? A and CP aren't huge fans of tuna sandwiches, but they'll eat them without complaining IF I cut them into shapes with a cookie cutter. They like "star sandwiches" quite a bit. I make whole sandwiches, cut out the shapes, and am left with the scraps, which I can't just throw away....

Vegetarian Stir Fry with Noodles

I know I've been posting a lot of recipes lately, everything else in my life right now feels like I'm just keeping up with running the kids to and from school, and keeping the house clean so people can come see it. Hopefully we sell it soon, and then we can have a different kind of crazy with moving.

Tonight for dinner, I made stir fry. Every time I make it it turns out a little different. I like to use teriyaki or peanut sauce, along with a little soy sauce, but in a pinch, just soy sauce will work. When I use peanut sauce, I also like to add cashews.

Start boiling water for noodles.

Cook onion, garlic in olive oil, add carrots, broccoli and any other vegetables that take longer to cook,and a little water and soy sauce or whatever sauce you're using (too much soy sauce makes the flavor too strong).

Add the faster cooking vegetables, I used peas (in the pod), tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach. Along with a dash or two of curry powder, and if you're only using soy sauce, a TBSP of brown sugar, otherwise a tsp is plenty.

Add cooked and drained spaghetti noodles and mix thoroughly.

Two of my kids ate it just fine, the middle one had a major tantrum about it. I did let them all pick one type of vegetable that they could pick out and not eat. One picked tomatoes (which is weird because he normally loves them), and the other two picked the spinach. I'm sure they would have all picked the mushrooms, but I chopped them up small enough that they didn't realize what they were.

Another Dinner without pictures

I didn't take a picture, because we ate it too fast (actually I just didn't think about taking a picture until just now, and dinner is over). It's unfortunate, because it was a really good dinner, and pictures of really good dinners are always nice.

Oven Fried Halibut:

Cut up halibut filet into two inch strips. Dip in milk, then in breadcrumbs (I use the italian breadcrumbs from costco) mixed with parmesan cheese. Place on foil lined cookie sheet, and bake for 10 minutes at 500 F. (make sure your oven is clean, anything on the bottom of the oven with smoke at that temperature). After 10 minutes, I actually turned my fish over to let the other side crisp up a bit (for 2 minutes)- my fish was a little thicker than what I think the recipe I was using as a baking guide called for. I've done the same thing with tilapia (though maybe cook it for a shorter time since it's not as thick), but halibut sounded good today. I should have sprinkled a little salt over the fish before dipping it in the breadcrumbs, but it was still tasty.

Lemon Pepper Vegetables:

Peel and slice carrots, cut up broccoli into reasonable sized chunks. Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil to the bottom of a fry pan, add carrots and broccoli (carrots and green beans are also good, but then you slice the carrots lengthwise instead of crosswise), and a little water. Sprinkle lemon pepper and garlic salt over the top and cover with lid. Cook until veggies are steamed to whatever level of doneness you like.

Brown Rice Mix:

I love the wild rice mix that costco sells. Unfortunately no one else does (well, maybe the 2-year-old). I decided to mix it with brown rice to see if people liked that better (the kids didn't love it, but they didn't complain as much as they do over the wild rice mix by itself- my Mister didn't like it any better, but ate it anyway, he's good like that- and one day I'll convert him to non-white rice). I put two cups of rice (one cup of brown, one cup of wild rice mix) in the rice cooker with a heaping tablespoon of chicken base. Easy.

For dessert, I decided not to make a cake, we're sugared out with all the easter candy, but we nearly always have a dessert monday nights, so we had cut up strawberries and whipped cream (so we still got plenty of sugar).

Buffalo Burgers

To celebrate spring, we decided to warm up the grill. (Don't say anything to me about it still being winter, I don't care.)

I also got out my new hamburger press. I was impressed with how easy it made patties (really big patties).

The first thing I did was to mix about a pound and a half of ground buffalo burger, 2 eggs, and about 1/2 cup of italian seasoned bread crumbs (from costco). (and this wsn't all the meat, I just didn't take a picture until I had already made several patties)


Next, I scooped a blob of the meat mixture into the patty press.


Then I pressed them, fairly hard. The patties are not as well packed as store-bought so you have to be a little more gentle moving them around, but they're fine once they're cooked.



My Mister grilled them.


And here's dinner. (Note to self, don't buy the cheap buns, they're way too small.)

Hello Spring

Pork Chops

Several months ago I posted about my thoughts after reading Animal Vegetable Miracle, by Barbara Kingsolver, and In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan, and also watching Food Inc.

Food Inc. especially really got to me, and made me think about what we are eating, and what the real costs of our food are. Rates of diet related illnesses keep going up, which is turn pushes up the cost of health care for everyone. The way the food we eat is grown or raised should really be considered. Is it sustainable? Can we continue to live the way we do and take care of the earth like we have been commanded to?

Back in December I started looking around for local sources for sustainably raised meats. At the time, the only things I could find were beef (which we don't need, because we get our "beef" from hunting), and pork. My family went in on a pig, and we picked it up on saturday.

Sunday for dinner, we cooked some pork chops (sprinkled with garlic salt and lemon pepper), made gravy from the drippings in the pan, ate the last of our indoor-salad-garden, made mashed potatoes, and steamed some carrots and broccoli with a little lemon pepper. It was the best dinner I've eaten in awhile. Here's a couple of the pork chops pre cooking...


And here are some while they're cooking (we experimented with the cast iron pan and the regular pan- the cast iron seemed to brown the outsides nicer than the regular frying pan, but the regular frying pan was better for making gravy out of the drippings)...


The last time we had pork chops was several years ago when they were on sale at costco, I don't remember them being anywhere near as flavorful.

We ordered a whole pig from Christiansen Family Farm, and recently placed an order for some chickens as well. The neatest thing is that they've added a CSA option, where you can pay, and then receive enough meat for your family for the whole year (I think you can break up the deliveries so you don't have to store everything in your freezer). They offer grass fed beef, pork, chicken and turkey. The CSA's come in 3 different sizes depending on how big your family is or how much meat you eat.

They also have a blog, and it's fun to read through about their experiences living on a farm, and including their small children in the farm chores.

Dinner without photos and gross negligence on following a recipe

I was really in the mood for split pea soup, but when I pulled out my jar that holds split peas, I discovered it was empty. I really dislike having to come up with two dinner ideas in one day, especially when the first idea seemed like such a good one.

The lentil jar was next to the split pea jar, so I thought I'd make lentil soup instead. I couldn't remember what recipe I've used for lentil soup in the past, so I started looking through my cookbooks, and found this one.

Mediterranean Lentil Vegetable Soup

2 Tbsp olive oil
6 carrots peeled and sliced
4 ribs celery, with leaves, chopped (I didn't have celery, so I dumped in some celery salt- I really need to dehydrate celery so I always have some on hand...)
2 medium onions, chopped (I used dried onions)
4 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped (again, I used dried minced garlic)
8 cups chicken broth (I cut it down to 6 since I was using the crock pot. I probably could have gone with 5, but it was good)
1 can plum tomatoes (I used my home canned tomatoes, chopped up) with juice
1 cup dry red wine (I didn't have any on hand, so I left this out) :)
3/4 C lentils (I put in 1 cup because 3/4 seemed like not very much)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp allspice (I didn't have allspice, so I left it out)
2 cinnamon sticks (I was nervous about cinnamon in soup, so I only put in one stick- which turned out perfectly)
salt and pepper

Cook carrots, celery and onions in olive oil until onions are wilted. Add garlic and cook 1 minute longer. Add everything else and cook until lentils are tender. (I actually just dumped everything in the crock pot and let it cook)

I adjusted amounts, mostly of water and lentils, since I was cooking this in a crock pot instead of on the stove, but it turned out really well. The kids were skeptical at first, but once they tried it, they finished without complaint. We also made chapathis (3 C flour, 2 tsp salt, 1 1/2 C water- mix, rest for several hours, shape into 12 balls, roll out, and bake like tortillas (although they puff up better if you use a dishtowel wadded up to push down on them while they're baking.)), and what was REALLY good was to break off a piece of the bread and use it to scoop up the lentils.

A Letter to my Children

My kids are young. The oldest is just at the beginning of realizing that there is a world outside of his family. They're happy, and have very limited experience with pain, for which I am grateful. Children deserve to grow up in a world where they feel safe and loved, and know where they fit in.

I was talking to my Mister about challenges I see around me, and how I want more than that for our children. Unfortunately each of them have to make their own choices in life. I can't protect them forever, nor should I. I just hope that I can teach them enough that they know how to avoid as much of the pain of life as possible, and to be happy.

So, To my boys (and I'm sure I'll add to this through the years),

I love you.
I hope you learn that life is never going to be easy, but that doesn't mean you can't be happy.
I hope you learn that God gives us commandments not to limit us, but to keep us free from extra pain.
I hope you learn to treat others gently,
I hope you learn to stand up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
I hope you gain a strong testimony of the gospel, and of God's love for you, and that you can lean on it when you don't know where else to lean.
I hope you learn how to work hard.
I hope you learn how to value other people for the right reasons, especially when you are looking for a spouse.
I hope you learn to do what is right, even when it's hard.

Other Circumstances May Necessitate Individual Adaptation

This line from the Proclamation on the Family is an often overlooked part of the meaning behind the document.

My friend Derek recently posted on Feminist Mormon Housewives about expectations in our culture as far as gender roles and providing for the family.

As I was reading the comments on the post and thinking about other perspectives I've read about regarding gender roles in the church, I was thinking about how the church focuses on the father as the breadwinner, and mother as primary caregiver for children NOT necessarily because that is the best for everyone, but because generally, it works for people. I've read about people who feel hurt because in their experiences it has been implied that this traditional division of duties is the "Ideal" (and of course if you HAVE to do something else, that's okay, because of the short disclaimer in the Proclamation on the Family, but it's not the "ideal").

So a thought popped into my head, that what if it isn't about ideal vs. non-ideal? What if we teach roles the way we do because it's what GENERALLY works, but that the IDEAL for anyone is what they, as a couple have prayerfully decided works best for their family. We're all entitled to personal revelation for our own families, and I think if we can get away from the idea that there is one ideal, and the rest are less-worthy fall back positions, it will make life much less stressful for many people who find that the traditional roles are not ideal in meeting the needs of their family.

Eating from the Pantry Challenge Summary

It's been an interesting month of eating. For the most part, I'd say we ate pretty normally, we were more careful about how many eggs we used (which wouldn't have been an issue at ALL, if our chickens were laying....) and we didn't drink big glasses of milk as often as we might have had we not been trying to make it last.

Our total money spent on groceries for the month of January was $92. That's quite a bit over the planned $60, however, 15 of that was to replenish my son's lunch money account (he eats school lunch one day a week), and that doesn't come out of our regular grocery budget. That puts us pretty close to $15 over budget, which is how much we spent on wheat. After years of storing hundreds of pounds of wheat, we've finally used all of it up, and didn't pay enough attention to our supplies.

Some thoughts from this experiment:
I need to store powdered milk- if I used it in baking more often, I wouldn't need to buy as much milk, and also would be covered in case of emergency.

I also learned that it's really useful to have eggs around. I might look into powdered eggs for use in baking- as a back up for times when our chickens are not earning their keep.

Limiting trips to the grocery store made a big difference in how much I spent. I've been in the habit of going shopping every week, but have discovered if I buy an extra gallon (or even half gallon) of milk, that we do just fine going longer in between.

I've missed fresh produce. While I bought some at the grocery store (3 times during the month), it really wasn't enough. My parents shared some apples and pears that they received as a gift. But today as my Mister finished up a race, and approached the table with bananas, bread and gatorade, I had a "I NEED a banana moment". I'll be looking into joining a food coop again for fruits and vegetables, we've done one in the past and really enjoyed the variety.

I'm thrilled to have some extra grocery money this month to split between our camper fund (which is where the wheat money will come from), and The Road Home.

Our list of things that are needing some serious restocking has grown pretty long this month, so it will be interesting to try to resupply over the next couple of months without killing my grocery budget. (I admit to having thoughts of using part of our tax return to shore up our food storage....).

Artichokes, another sign that I'm ready for spring...

Thanks to The Prudent Homemaker (a fascinating website!) I've discovered that it may very well be possible to grow artichokes in my backyard (Zone 5!). As I've researched, I've come up with some helpful tips. Because the summers heat up pretty fast, there are a few extra steps to take to make sure the artichokes produce. They also generally do not survive the winter, and have to be treated as an annual.

I ordered my seeds last week, which is already pushing things, so if you're interested, get seeds NOW.

Step 1: When your seeds arrive, soak them for 8 hours in a bowl of water.
Step 2: Mix seeds in with some sand, and place in the refrigerator for two weeks (this tricks the seeds into thinking they've been through a winter and will help ensure production.
Step3: Plant seeds in a seed starting mat, (or whatever you use to start seeds).
Step 4: After seeds sprout, keep them under grow lights during the day to help them grow without getting leggy.
Step 4.5: Prepare soil outdoors by adding lots of organic matter, down to 12 inches in depth, so the roots can grow easily.
Step 5: Plant outdoors 3-4 weeks BEFORE the last average frost free date.
Step 6: Keep watered, mulched, and fertilize using a nitrogen rich fertilizer.

Good luck with yours. I can hardly wait. I love artichokes, and hope we get a big harvest.

(photo credit http://www.planetnatural.com/site/xdpy/kb/growing-artichokes.html)

I wish it were Summer stew

I'm tired of winter. So for dinner I fixed Moroccan Summer Stew. (although I forgot that I usually put potatoes in it)

Technically this would have to be called "I wish it were summer, stew", since only the canned tomatoes were from the garden. It's better with fresh food, but the zucchini called to me from across the produce section, and dinner was born.

The kids are not in love with it. They actually eat it, but only with much coercing. Their main objection is the zucchini. I reminded them of zucchini season when we eat zucchini nearly every day, and told them that they should consider this a warm up (they didn't appreciate that). After all, if you eat something enough times, you'll probably start to like it (especially if it's actually very good).

Kid Funnies

The kids say so many funny things, that I thought I'd better get as many written down as I can before I forget them...

A (age 6) to J (age 8)- they were arguing over something.... "J! You have to learn to love NOT hate!"

A (again) to me, in a concerned voice.... "Mom, sometimes J hates me, then he loves me, then he hates me?!"

CP (age 2) is finally acknowledging his age. "When I'm 5, I'll go to school. But today I'm 2!" (He used to always say he was 5)

CP has been really intent on coloring at church lately. The last few sundays, he'll sit for the whole sacrament meeting and focus really hard on his picture. My Mister sneaked this picture a couple of weeks ago with his phone:

CP does the same thing during nursery, when it's time to color, he's focused on getting every little bit of the picture colored. Last sunday he didn't even want his fruit snacks that we let him have after the sacrament, because he was too busy. He wanted me to draw Lightening McQueen and 'Mater, luckily he's not picky that my pictures aren't the best, he just colors them in.

The music leader in CP's nursery is amazing, CP has been singing, "Families Can Be Together Forever", and "Do as I'm Doing". Those aren't songs we've sung at home recently, so I know it's nursery. The funniest thing is when he starts singing one, gets distracted by a particular word, and switches to a different song, usually the theme song from Thomas the Tank Engine.

Another cute thing A has been doing lately... In his nightly prayers, he asks for Grandma and Grandpa to be safe on their mission, and to do good work, but he also has started saying, "please bless the people in Haiti that they'll be better from their earthquake, and please bless the earth that there won't be any more earthquakes". He is such a sweet thoughtful kid.

J is getting older (he's 8!), so he doesn't say funny things as much as he used to. He's working hard in school, and playing Jr. Jazz basketball. Sometimes I look at him and wonder why he's being such a brat, :) and other times I look at him, and realize how little he still is. He really is a mature kid, and is easy to reason with. He acts older than he is so much of the time, that when he acts like an 8-year-old, it's frustrating. I'm just glad that he still asks if he can "snuggle me" when he's upset, and that he likes to see me at school.

Eating from the Pantry Challenge- update

So far, I've been to the grocery store once in January (last wednesday actually), only buying milk, lettuce, tomatoes, and avocados. I spent just a few cents over my $20 limit (we were having friends over for dinner that goes better with milk, so I bought A LOT of milk) and am planning on holding out until early next week.

We've eaten well,
Steak & Baked potatoes (with all the good toppings), and green beans
Taco Salad
Taco Soup
Broccoli Cheddar Soup and bread
Vegetable Beef Soup and bread
Homemade pizza
Spaghetti with meat sauce, green salad (the last of our salad fixings sadly), and artisan bread

We like soup when it's cold outside, if you were wondering. Crazy, but I think that's all we've eaten so far this month. We've had plenty of leftover nights, and one night eating at a friend's house.

Tonight we're having homemade macaronian cheese. I make a little white sauce, add some worcestershire sauce (just a little), some garlic, a little salt, and lots of cheese, and pour over whole wheat noodles, then bake in the oven topped with bread crumbs and more cheese to make the top nice and crusty. We'll probably have green beans or broccoli on the side. Maybe a fruit salad. (we were given some apples and pears as a gift)

J Snowboarding

This is his 3rd time (we go once a year):

Eating from the Pantry Challenge

Crystal, from Money Saving Mom is holding a "Eat from the Pantry Challenge" where she's encouraging others to participate in a month-long stint with little to no grocery shopping. She encourages everyone to look at their pantries and figure out what works for them. My Eat From the Pantry Challenge will look like this:

1-Only 3 trips to the store in January, for dairy products and fresh produce, with a total grocery budget of $60 for the month. Because of my milk issues, the majority of that budget will go to buying the more expensive milk that my crazy brain insists on. We'll also eat out once during the month, but dining out money comes from a different budget than our grocery budget.

2- Not included in the three trips is our regular trip to costco for stocking up on basics (we didn't go in december, and are running low on important things like TP), and also trips to Rite Aid (I'm not counting Rite Aid, because I don't spend "new" money there anyway, it's all recycled rebates from earlier trips).

3- The money I save on groceries will be split in half, with the first half going to the Road Home Shelter in Salt Lake, and the other half being added to our camper savings fund.

Do you have a stocked pantry? If so, join in the fun! Jessica from Utah Deal Diva is also taking part in the challenge, check out her blog to see amazing pictures of her pantry and freezer (I think she could go for several months!).

A Little Spring in January

This time of year, when Christmas is over, the next thing I look forward to is spring, when the asparagus shoots start to poke out of the soil, signaling another gardening season. My excitement makes for a long winter- one way I’ve found to help pass the time, is to do a little indoor growing. To grow indoors you need grow lights. These can be purchased (one online store has some simple ones priced at $299) or made (for much less).



With a few tools and basic building skills (it really doesn’t take a lot) you can build a simple frame. The side supports are attached at the tray where the plants sit and with one 2x4 that spans the top. The top piece of plywood is attached by chains which allows it to be raised or lowered to keep the lights close to the plants. Once your frame is built, you just need a simple hanging style shop light from a hardware store. Make sure to get the kind that plugs in. We bought two and placed them side by side. We also built our frame with the length of the lights in mind. We used scrap lumber, and screws that we already had, so we only paid for the lights, the fluorescent tubes (and it’s helpful to combine both the cool and warm spectrum lights for healthier plants), and the hooks to attach the chains to the top 2x4. I think we spent less than $30 total.

While seed starting trays are nice, they’re not necessary, you can use old margarine or yogurt containers, just keep them moist and cover with saran wrap until the seeds sprout. Once they sprout, remove the saran wrap and place under the lights, moving the lights up as your plants grow.



There’s nothing like fresh lettuce in January. The light set up is also great for starting plants for the garden indoors. A packet of seeds and some potting soil is much less expensive than buying plants at the nursery, plus it gives you a fun winter activity- reading the seed catalogs and choosing which unique varieties to grow that year.

There but by the grace of God go I

Saturday night my Mister and I went out to dinner and then to a movie with friends. We ate at the Rio Grande, I hadn't been there before, but it was so good that I ate more than I should have. The movie was also enjoyable. On the walk back to the car, my stomach hurt from eating too much and I was shivering because it was cold, and I made the comment that there's "nothing worse than having a full stomach and shivering", to which I immediately added, "except maybe an empty stomach and shivering". We were walking near the Road Home shelter, where people were lined up waiting to get in. I don't know if everyone did, or if some people spent the night on the street.

I felt selfish and wasteful to have spent money on a night out, when there are people who have no place to spend a night in. It's so easy to go about our lives and not think about the homeless.

From their website: The Road Home provides support and shelter for overcoming homelessness. We have a wide variety of programs that provide services to people. The Road Home operates out of The Salt Lake Community Shelter, the largest homeless shelter in Utah.

We begin by providing people with basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter, while immediately working with them to develop a plan for housing. Our programs are designed to connect people with resources and help integrate them back into the community.

Housing Programs
Emergency Services
Self-Sufficiency Programs
Advocacy/Collaboration

You can donate money online here, or you can go here for a list of items they are in need of. There are also opportunities for volunteering, including Eagle Scout projects.

That homelessness exists shows how far we need to come in truly caring for the least of these. The homeless are one of society's most vulnerable populations. If I can afford to go out to eat and to a movie, I can make room in my budget to support emergency shelters in hopes that someday no one has to spend a cold night on the street.

I Pinky Swear

Kindergartners are big on the pinky swear. When J was in kindergarten I thought it was weird when he said to me one day, "I pinky swear mom!" (he wanted something, and took the solemn oath of pink swear that he would do something for me in return.)

Today, A came home from kindergarten pinky swearing to his brother that he'd play with him.

I love 5-year-olds.

Where to Get Milk?

As I've been researching meat and the sustainability and health issues surrounding the way most meats are "grown" currently, I've also been looking at milk. I read an article on webmd that was a study on children fed organic dairy products versus traditional dairy products, the study found that children who ONLY consumed organic dairy products had a much lower rate of asthma and allergies than children who at any amount of traditional dairy products in their diet. I'm not quite ready to switch to organic dairy entirely (and I think in the article, it wasn't just the organic label that was important, it was that the dairy cows were pastured, therefore healthier, and didn't need antibiotics- antibiotics being my biggest concern).

I've been doing some reading on milk and where it comes from. Costco organic milk is a "great deal" at nearly $3 per half gallon. Unfortunately, today I read this: wholesalers and major "organic" brands are continuing to sell milk and dairy products labeled as "USDA Organic, even though most or all of their milk is coming from factory farm feedlots where the animals have been brought in from conventional farms and are kept in intensive confinement, with little or no access to pasture.

The Organic Consumers Association is expanding its boycott of Horizon and Aurora organic dairy products to include five national "private label" organic milk brands supplied by Aurora, as well as two leading organic soy products, Silk and White Wave, owned by Horizon's parent company, Dean Foods...Aurora Organic supplies milk for several private label organic milk brands, including Costco's "Kirkland Signature," Safeway's "O" organics brand, High Meadows, Giant's "Natures Promise," and Wild Oats organic milk. Aurora Organic received a failing grade from the Cornucopia Institute's survey of organic dairies for its practice of intensive confinement of dairy cows. For pictures of Aurora Organic's operations, follow this link. The Cornucopia Institute recently blew the whistle on Aurora Organic's greenwashing and its bogus certification of animal welfare.

Additionally, its been revealed that much of the soy for Dean Food's White Wave tofu and Silk soymilk products are sourced abroad, primarily from Brazil and China. Environmental standards and workers' rights are routinely violated in these two countries.

Anyone know of sources for milk that comes from cows not treated with routine antibiotics? Costco was going to be my source for milk. I don't care about the organic label, I just haven't found any non-organic milk that meets my requirements.

It's making me tired.

UPDATE: I think we're going to go with Rosehill dairy. It's a local, small scale dairy, and I feel fairly comfortable with the way the cows are raised and fed, and with the quality of the milk.

Sugar Cereals

General Mills has announced that they will be Reducing Sugar, amounts in their cereals, the ones that we call "sugar cereal".

I suppose this is a good thing, but my feeling is that making junk food cereals slightly less junky isn't the answer to our health food woes. Especially not when it appears (I don't know for sure) that the sugar in the cereals is just being replaced by some sugar substitute (the article said it won't use artificial sweetners, but on the Doug Wright show, there was discussion on the cereals not being noticeably less sweet, with led the host to wonder if they'd be using a sugar derivative (which happens to have the happy side effect of diarhea)).

I buy my kids sugar cereals for camping trips. It's a special treat, it shouldn't be a breakfast food. Kids need foods that will fill them up and provide the nutrients and energy they need for the morning. When my kids eat sugar cereals, they're hungry again in an hour (and I don't think that's a problem stemming from just the sugar in the cereal, I think the cereals are so much air and very little else that they just don't fill kids up for long).

How about instead of trying to put a banana peel on a twinkie, we just eat the bananas.

Changing the way we live

I've been thinking a lot lately about why we do things the way we do. Why we buy the things we buy, and eat the things we eat. And why we're so hesitant to look at other options, and so quick to laugh and label different ideas as "crazy liberal ideas". Ideas can't hurt us, so why don't we do research and then accept or discount the ideas based on their actual merit?

I've been reading books like, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, and Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, and watching documentaries like Botany of Desire and Food Inc..

I gow a garden in the summer, and can as much food as possible for winter use. I raise chickens for eggs (if they'd start laying again), and I try to eat real food as much as possible, though we do still eat convenience foods more than I'd like.

I've been thinking more and more about living in a sustainable way, and the changes I would have to make are scary, but I think they're scary because we've grown up thinking that the way things are are the only way.

What do we do when we can't go to costco and buy a jumbo bag of frozen chicken breast? It sometimes feels easier to live in ignorance of where your food comes from, because once you've seen it, it's a lot harder to continue eating it.

I've joined the coupon craze, though mostly for non-food items since we don't eat a lot of the things there are coupons for (though I got a great deal on walnuts and butter and now have a nice supply in my freezer), but even for things like razors, I've had feelings of guilt for quite some time. I can get razors for free, but not the extra blades, so to never pay for razors we'd end up throwing away entire razors every time the blade goes dull. It's hard to balance the desire for a years supply of all things and still not be part of a rampant consumerism culture.

There are lots of things to think about, but in thinking about starting small, I'm researching how I can avoid eating commercialized meats. Being taught not to waste things, we'll finish up the bag of frozen chicken in the freezer over the next couple of months, and hopefully by then I'll have ideas on where to buy chicken that was raised in a sustainable way, that is healthy for me, for the farmers, and for the planet. I'll also look into the milk I buy and decide if I need to pay more for organic milk, and if that means that we'll be drinking less of it. And, if my chickens don't start laying again, I'll be looking into cruelty free eggs.

I know all of this sounds crazy to some people, but I feel strongly that we humans were placed on the earth to be wise stewards over all things, and I can't justify supporting companies that don't care if they're making us sick, or if their chicken farmers are developing allergies to antibiotics because of their overuse in the chickens, or workers on a killing floor who lose their fingernails to infections, or who care more about their bottom lines than about people dying from e coli poisoning.

UPDATE:

I'm adding links to locally grown/sustainable farms as I find them. The one I have so far is Christiansen's Hog Heaven, which sells heritage breed pigs all processed and delivered in little packages. We're ordering a whole pork and splitting it among family.

For My Mom

...because she doesn't look on facebook and misses the updates about what is going on in my life (nevermind that we live close and see each other at least once a week...).

I made pie with a BIL in Oregon. He actually made all the fillings, I just took care of the crust. It's not my best effort, but they tasted good.

Berry (see the 'B' on the pie in the back) and apple are the only pies we got a picture of. I was having crust issues.
At Multnomah Falls, we met a long-time-online-gardening-friend and her husband. It was nice to talk to her in person- she felt like family. Multnomah Falls was beautiful, as we got close the water hitting the pool below sounded like a freight train. We walked up to the bridge in the background, at that point the spray off the falls felt like a heavy rain.

K's brother took us to a Chinese garden in Portland OR, it's just under 1 acre, or one city block, right in the middle of downtown. I was fascinated by the ground. Each area of the garden had a different pattern of hand-laid stones. This was my favorite (I especially love the moss growing between the stones):

After the garden we had lunch in a park (with the homeless man peeing behind a tree) and stopped at Powells Bookstore. It was ENORMOUS, and we could have gotten lost very easily, luckily we found our way out after finding plenty of new reading material.
The day after Thanksgiving another of K's brothers took us (8 or 9 adults and nearly 20 children) to Newport to see the beach. It was cold and windy, so after looking at tidepools (and a cool mushroom growing on the cliff side (drat that I didn't take a picture of it)) we left the beach to find somewhere to eat. Walking around the harbor we stopped to watch the sea lions play King of the Mountain. A few would be up on the platform, and others would try to climb up. As soon as a new sea lion started up, the others would all start barking, we found out why when a newcomer tipped the platform in his attempt to get on and made two others fall off (he did make it on though).

I missed my family at Thanksgiving. I've been spoiled to have dinner prepared the way my mom does it, and I've had to remind myself that just because it's not the same doesn't mean it's bad. Our meal was delicious (though I missed having orange rolls and my mom's stuffing).

And lastly, a quick update on funny things the kids say and do:

J accidentally bounced a ping pong ball into the oven. The door was open because I had just taken bread out. I was able to scoop the ball out just as it started melting, using a wooden spoon. It landed on the floor and started putting off thick green smoke. I used a hot pad, which is now scorched, to pick it up and drop it into the sink, just in time for it to burst into flames. Glad that didn't happen when I was holding it two seconds prior. If you've ever wondered why the rule "no bouncing balls in the house" got started, consider our experience.

A has been really into instructing his 2-year-old brother on life lessons lately. Lesson #1: If it's alcohol, say no, but if it's not alcohol and I tell you to do it, you should do it. Life Lesson #2 "CP, I don't believe you. I don't believe it unless I can see it, unless it's Heavenly Father. Heavenly Father is the only thing we believe if we can't see it".

What you get...

Here's what you get from a friday evening feverishly picking grapes, an hour or two picking apples and tomatoes, several trips to the store for more lids and fruit fresh, and a conference weekend:

Lots of dishes

And even more jars of food

Are you amazed?  I am.  We spent ALL day saturday, and a good chunk of sunday finishing everything.  We had to buy peppers and onions for the salsa, but the grapes and apples all came from my parents' house.  

We started friday night picking grapes, saturday morning we started by chopping peppers and onions and tomatoes.  We had enough of everything to make a double batch of salsa, which is about all our big stock pot will hold.  We have 20 pints.    While the salsa was simmering we got started on the grapes, finally at 11 pm, we had all the grapes off the stems, and most of them steamed and turned into juice, by the time we went to bed there was one 5-gallon bucket of de-stemmed grapes left.  Sunday morning we took a break and made swedish pancakes (crepes) with orange butter and powdered sugar- it's a family recipe, and has become a conference tradition.  

After breakfast we put the last of the grapes in the steamers (we own one and borrowed a second).  Once those were going, we started on the apples.  Started may not be the right word since last weekend we did about 30 quarts of applesauce, and these were the apples that we didn't get to then.  My Mister chopped and cooked, and I ran them through the Victorio strainer that we borrowed from my mom (she has all the cool tools). 

My mister does applesauce differently than I do- when I do it, I cook smaller amounts of apples in a pot with just a little water and then run everything through the strainer.  He cooks a lot of apples in a huge pot with a lot of water, and then ladels the apples out with a slotted spoon.  This left us with a huge pot of apple-water when we were done, and after tasting it, we decided to strain the solid bits out and can it.  We had 11 pints (we were out of quart jars at this point) of really tasty apple juice.  

Grape juice totals were 14 1/2 gallons (I love the half gallon sized jars for grape juice!), and 33 quarts.

Applesauce totals were 20 quarts and 50 pints.  We used every pint and quart jar we could find (we even took my son's "happy helper jar" and used it- he now has a "happy helper" bowl), we borrowed more lids from a neighbor since we ran out, and we made an emergency trip to the store sunday afternoon for more fruit fresh. 

I think that works out to 81 pints (I though I counted 82 yesterday so maybe I'm missing one somewhere), 53 quarts, and 14 1/2 gallons.  

Homemade Hamburger Buns

I've been wanting to try making my own for quite awhile now, so when I saw Mother Earth News had a recipe I was excited to try it.
I've never made something that required a sponge before, but it wasn't hard at all. I made the sponge last night:

1 Cup warm milk

4tbs unsalted butter (I just realized I used salted- hopefully mine don't turn out too salty)

3/4 C whole wheat flour

1 C all purpose flour

1/4 tsp instant yeast

and (optional)

2 TBSP potato flour (or instant potato buds- I used the potato pearls and so far so good)

1/4 C dry milk

3 TBSP bread improver (I assumed that this meant wheat gluten, but who knows)

If you don't add the optional things, add an extra 1/4 to 1/2 C flour

Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let sit overnight or at least 2 hours.

In the morning, comine 1/4 C warm water and 2 tsp instant yeast.  Add mixture to sponge, and stir in with a spoon (I tried my mixer and spilled yeasty water all over), then add 1 1/4 C flour, 2 TBSP sugar, and 1 1/2 tsp salt.  Knead by hand, or in a mixer for about 10 minutes (longer if by hand)  until dough is soft and smooth.  Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap and a towel and raise for 1 hour.  Pour out onto lightly floured surface, and divide into 6 balls.  Place balls on a lightly greased bun pan, cover with greased plastic wrap and a towel and rest for 10 minutes.  Remove towel (not plastic wrap) and flatten balls with your palm.  Replace towel and raise for about an hour.  Bake in preheated 375 F oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.  

Makes 6 buns.

Review:  The buns are good.  They have a light flavor that won't fight with hamburgers and ketchup.  I would make 8 or 10 buns out of the amount of dough one batch makes- they turned out huge.  I think I'd also use a big flat plate to flatten the dough with since my hand wasn't terribly even.  I think I'll make them again, but they are kind of a lot of work (not really any more than any good roll/bread recipe, but we're talking hamburgers here) so I probably won't make them often.  We don't eat hamburgers very often anyway.  Tripling the batch worked great- and the dough was a beautiful dough.  I'm not sure if that's what dough made with sponge is always like, but I'll definitely have to try other sponge recipes.

Book Review and Zucchini recipes

Several months ago I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I think I've probably posted about it before, but my Mister has also read it recently, so we've been talking a lot more about being self sufficient and commenting on what we'd give up if we were to live that way. (We both recognize that we couldn't do it where we live now, and we'd have to move to the country somewhere.) For example, as I bite into a twix bar, my Mister says, "you couldn't eat those anymore", or as he mixes up a glass of gatorade after a run, I say, "that would have to be one of our exceptions to the "no food we don't grow ourselves or buy from a local source". It's a fun game, really. 

It's a fascinating book, and I really recommend it especially if you have any interest in gardening or self-sufficiency. It really makes you think about where your food comes from. It will also make you want to make your own cheese and grow asparagus.

One other thing it has made me think a lot about is eating foods during their season. Right now is the season for zucchini and tomatoes, so we've been eating those things a lot. Here are a few "recipes" we've been using a lot. I don't want to let anything go to waste, and these dishes are easy (I love one-pot meals) and different enough that I'm not gagging thinking about eating zucchini again tonight. Feel free to post your own zucchini recipes as well.

Summer Stew refers to anything thrown together with ingredients right out of the garden.  (2013 update: I'm going back through old posts to add pictures, so as I remake these meals, I'll add photos)

Moroccan Summer Stew

Saute olive oil, garlic and onions in a pan.  Add chopped potatoes, tomatoes and zucchini.  Add enough water to steam the potatoes and cover (you may want to let the potatoes steam for a bit before you add the zucchini and tomatoes so they aren't total mush).  Add a can of garbanzo beans, and several good shakes of cumin (add enough that you can smell it) and some salt and pepper to taste.  If it's too dry, add a little more water so that there's enough "sauce" to moisten the couscous you serve it over.  (I recommend couscous, but quinoa is good too, rice might be okay.)

Italian Summer Stew

Saute olive oil, garlic and onions in a pan (do you sense a theme yet?).  Add sliced zucchini, and tomatoes.  Add water if there isn't enough from the tomatoes to make it saucy.  Add oregano or basil (fresh basil from the garden is wonderful), and salt and pepper to taste.  Cover and simmer until zucchini are softened.  Add a couple of handfuls of pine nuts and two or three splashes of balsamic vinegar.  Serve over pasta.  Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Un-Stuffed Zucchini

(you can also stuff them, in which case you cut a huge zucchini in half, scrape out seeds, fill with the following mixture, top with cheese, and bake in oven for however long it takes for the zucchini to cook all the way- I'm helpful, I know- my mom can comment and tell everyone how long this takes- but my experience is that the kids eat the stuffing part and leave the zucchini part, so I've started making my stuffed zucchini un-stuffed)

Cook however much ground burger you want.  I think I usually use 1/2 pound, but it really doesn't matter.  Add garlic, and onions.  I like to add a little beef bouillon too. Saute, then add chopped zucchini, tomatoes and a cup or two of rice (depending on how many people you are feeding and how big your pan is).  Add enough water to cook the rice.  Cover, and cook on low for 20 minutes or so (until the water is gone and the rice is cooked).  Salt and pepper to taste.  Sprinkle with cheese (I like mozzarella), and serve.

Grilled Flatbread Pizza with zucchini: Recipe here.
Ratatouille: Recipe here.
Pizza: topping idea here.

Black and White

Recently I heard someone talk about their family in California and how they were affected by proposition 8, and how it showed them that some people are ready to jump up and follow the prophet, while others let things like that damage their testimonies. I have to state clearly, that I really like the person who was speaking, and I recognize that we all have different life experiences which shape us, but it made me wonder why we (subconsciously even) view the world in such black and white terms.

I've written about my feelings toward prop 8 and same sex marriage before, so I won't go into that again, but I wonder why the only "good" response to things like prop 8 is to immediately obey. I'm certainly not advocating that we immediately disobey any time the prophet speaks, I believe we should follow the prophet, but I think that we should allow that those who aren't given the spiritual gift of immediate confirmation also have a valid experience. I remember a few months ago in sunday school, a class member said that she always wondered why she struggled so much to gain a testimony of something, but she felt like once she did, she didn't lose it.

Too often we view those who struggle to gain a testimony of something (or even those who honestly and prayerfully have come to a different answer than our own) as lacking in some way. Instead of wondering why people allow difficult issues to damage their testimonies, perhaps we should ask ourselves how we can help others through trying times in their lives, and then acknowledge that everyone is given a different experience here on earth and one is not better or worse than another, they're just different, which gives us different views and teaches us different things. Life isn't black and white, it's shades of grey.

Modesty

I recently shopped for and purchased a new swim suit, which of course has me thinking about modesty. Nearly any swim suit you buy is going to have some areas that you wish were a little more covering, which has also made me think about why. Why do we view the body the way we do? What makes something modest or not? Why do we care? And finally, why do most "rules" associated with modesty apply only to females?

I was reading And They Were Not Ashamed by Laura Brotherson, and she talked about how we teach young women to be modest, and too often it comes across as "be modest so you don't tempt the boys". This has a couple of problems, first it tells the girls that boys are animals and are not capable of controlling themselves. Second, it teaches boys that they are animals and are not capable of controlling themselves.

Young men need to be taught that they are responsible for controlling their hormones no matter how girls around them are dressed, they also need to be taught what true beauty is, instead of society's idea of beauty. Young women need to be taught that dressing modestly means we show respect for ourselves by dressing in a way that shows we understand that our bodies are beautiful gifts given to us from loving heavenly parents.

Back to my original questions...

Why do we view the body the way we do? I think far too often, we've been conditioned to be ashamed or embarrassed by our bodies. Especially if they don't measure up to whatever made up level of perfection we see on TV or in magazines.

What makes something modest? When I was little, I remember my mom had the rule that shorts or skirts couldn't be more than three fingers above the knee. In high school, shorts had to be longer than our fingers when our arms were at our sides. I always viewed strappy tank tops as immodest, but not sleeveless shirts. I think the definitions of modesty change somewhat, obviously over the last 100 years there have been major changes in what is viewed as modest, even today, different cultures have very different standards of modesty. I think modesty is a personal thing. There may be, in each cultural group, things that are universally considered modest or immodest, which brings me to the next question, why do we care? We care because I think culturally, we've turned the most obvious things like modesty, or word of wisdom things into a litmus test for righteousness. I don't believe that most people are purposely going around judging each other, but on some level we all do it. Whether we're like my 5-year-old who likes to point out when he sees people not wearing motorcycle helmets ("they're not very safe mom!") because that's how we reinforce "rules" in our minds, or comparing how low cut your neighbor's swim suit is to make you feel better about your own, we all judge others. Should we? No. Are we going to stop anytime soon? Probably not.

Finally, why are nearly all modesty rules for females only? I've never heard anyone talk about a man's shirt being too tight, or low cut, or his shorts too short (although I've seen men's shorts that were too short). Are we conditioning boys to be more visually stimulated than girls, or is it prewired?

Coming to terms with aging.

A while back I bumped into a former high school crush. He had gained quite a bit around the middle, and his hair was thinning. (he was still as charismatic as ever though) My first thought was, wow, we're getting old. I don't feel like I look very old yet, but I do have some gray hairs, and wrinkles around my eyes. I've also noticed that it takes cuts and scrapes (and mosquito bites) longer to heal than it used to.

As a child I remember being told I was beautiful by my aunt. I've since wondered if she told me that primarily because she believed it, or because she worried about my self esteem since I had scarring on my face from having a birthmark removed. Whatever her reasons, I've always believed it, and am actually a little vain (well sometimes I'm vain, other times not so much). So I worry a little about getting old.

As old as I might feel at times now, I know I'm still pretty young and healthy, but what about when the few gray hairs turn into a head full, and the wrinkles fill up my face so much that a grandchild says something to the effect of "your face is full of cracks", like I said to my grandmother. Will my appearance become less important to me? Will I feel like I need to start wearing the full array of makeup? Will I be depressed that I'm no longer culturally considered young and attractive (well, attractive is relative, but you know what I mean).

The natural look has worked well for me, and I'd hate for that to change.

How do you deal with the fact that you can't stop aging? It's coming for you. Do you welcome it, or run as fast as you can for anti-aging products?

Chickens in Woods Cross?

My friend S emailed me about this, so I looked it up on the WX city website:
Notice is hereby given that on June 2, 2009 at 6:30 P.M., at the Woods Cross City Municipal Building, 1555 South 800 West, Woods Cross, Utah, the Woods Cross City Council will hold a public hearing to consider a proposed amendment to the City Zoning Ordinance. This amendment details the conditions for keeping urban chickens within the R-1-8 and R-1-10 zones.

You are invited to attend this meeting to provide your input. If you wish to comment or are unable to attend, or have any questions, contact the Community Development Director at 292-4421. All exhibits and materials are available for review at the Woods Cross Municipal Building at 1555 South 800 West, Woods Cross, Utah.

I've been collecting articles on keeping chickens in urban or suburban areas, and it's becoming more and more common- people realize the benefit of having fresh eggs as part of their food storage, and also what fun pets chickens can be.

If you live in, or know anyone who lives in Woods Cross, attend the meeting, or write the city council to encourage them to allow backyard chickens.

Things to keep in mind:

-Hens don't need roosters to lay eggs, so fear of noisy crowing doesn't have to be a concern.
-In their prime, hens can lay nearly an egg every day. Three or four hens can provide more eggs than a family can eat, so you can give eggs to friends or neighbors.
-If you keep chickens in your backyard, you know if they're healthy, and you'll be assured the eggs are high quality.
-Fresh eggs are much better in cooking.
-A few hens don't need a lot of space, and using the deep litter method, don't stink, and don't require very much care.
-Hens are fun pets, especially if you raise them from chicks.
-Hens will provide fertilizer for your garden, and eat bugs.

One-Hour Bread

Ann's Best Whole Wheat Bread

2 1/2 C hot tap water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp gluten flour
1/8 C vegetable oil
3/8 C honey (I used 1/4 cup instead because that seemed like a lot of honey)
6 C whole wheat flour (I grind my own, no guarantees if you use store bought)
1 Tbsp Saf-instant yeast

Using a mixer with the dough hook attachment, combine water, salt, gluten flour, oil, honey, and half the four. Mix until blended, then add the yeast and the rest of the flour just until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. The dough will be sticky. Be careful not to add too much flour, it will dry out the bread, Cover and let the machine knead for 5 minutes. Remove the dough hook, cover, and let rise for 10-15 minutes. Oil a cutting board and lightly oil your hands. Turn the dough out onto the board and divide into loaves. Do not overwork the dough. Let raise once more for 10-15 minutes. For standard six loaves bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes, and small loaves for 22 minutes. Makes 2 standard sized loaves.

I've never used gluten flour or Saf-instant yeast before so I wasn't sure what to expect. The bread is good, it's chewier than my usual recipe, but not overly so. For how fast and easy it was, it's very good bread.

May Picture Round Up

Automatic chicken waterer- the end of the soaker hose (which is on an automatic timer) drips to fill the butter container (with the bigger container to catch the leftovers- the kinks aren't totally worked out yet, but I'm hoping it will allow us to be gone for a day or two without worrying about watering the chickens).

Leaves from last fall mixed with the neighbor's grass clippings make a nice hot compost pile.

Mother's day breakfast in bed (sorry it got turned sideways somehow). If you're wondering why the omlet looks neon-yellow, it's because we've been feeding the chickens lots of lettuce and other food scraps, which makes the yolks a lot darker.

A good rain storm turned our dry riverbed into a rain garden. I think this is the closest we've come to having the water overflow onto the sidewalk. It didn't, but it looked like it might for a little while.


A lot of the water comes from this downspout, but we also have a tube hooked up to a backyard downspout that runs underground until it comes out in the rocks just above the downspout pictured.

My Mister building our dog poop digester.

Digester in place, ready for use. (we've been using it for a couple of weeks now, without noticeable smell!)

J's last soccer game of the season- he really started doing well, being more aggressive this spring. I enjoyed being his coach, and I'm glad it will be someone else's turn next fall.

Tomato plants.  We used the walls of water (the green things on the grass next to the tomatoes) on about half of the plants, and the plants that are not covered are about half the size of the ones that are- I guess walls of water are useful even after threat of frost has passed.

This was our first successful attempt at starting from seed, I transplanted into cups several weeks prior to planting, and was amazed at how much the roots grew during that short time. 

Because CP is so darn cute:


J "losing" his 3rd baby tooth. The funniest thing was that the tooth went flying and was temporarily lost under the stove. We found it, and the tooth fairy found a note from J apologizing for the tooth being dirty. It was very sweet. Luckily the tooth fairy has a tooth washer.

CP helping dad build the shed (made from nearly all scavenged materials- we bought cement blocks to put under it and nails so far- gotta love dumpster diving).

A helping dad.

Moving parts into place. The walls aren't nailed in place yet, we just had them standing up to see how things would fit. It's going to be awesome.