A Trip to the Farm

I took the kiddos to a local farm for their annual Apple Butter Day, where they make apple butter the old-fashioned way: in a copper kettle over an open fire! It was truly a great day. While we were there, we took a hayride and saw one of the surrounding family farms. We watched cows, sheep, and horses grazing lazily in the fields, turkeys actually running around and puffing up trying to impress the ladies, and chickens pecking at bugs and trying to find some shade (it has been unseasonably warm this year). When they realized we weren't bringing food, they soon lost interest in us and went back to scratching. In the afternoon, we ate dinner, complete with butter so yellow it looked like margarine. Except that it wasn't. It was the real thing. Not like those white sticks you buy at the grocery store, oh no! I'm talking real butter. Spread on home-made bread, it was just about the best thing I've ever eaten in my life.

It was so wonderful to be able to see where my food, the food that I feed my kids, comes from. Every time I hear of a salmonella or e.Coli outbreak, I can rest easy: I know where my food came from. And if I needed to, I could probably track down the cow from my plate back to it's birth, and everyone who handled it in between. I pay good money for good food, but the piece of mind is priceless.

I developed a hypothesis about food when I was in college. At that time, I knew very little about actual nutrition, I basically starved myself to be thin, and, not coincidentally, I was sick, sick, sick all of the time. But oddly enough, I still have my little hypothesis, and the more I learn about nutrition and real food, the more I think I was right on the mark. Basically, I believe that if God made a food, our bodies can process it and use it. And if man made a food, it's poison and will kill you very slowly, painfully, and most likely, expensively.

Here are a few pictures. It was really one of the best days.

Home-Made Baby Food

Makin' baby food: Round 3. With an active toddler and an over-active pre-schooler running around, it can be hard to remember why I would go to the trouble again (although really it isn't that much trouble). A recent report on the news, however, helped remind me why I've lugged out the steamer basket and the blender again: Of over 400 baby and snack products tested by an independent lab, 85% were contaminated with lead, including products by Gerber, Beech Nut, and Earth's Best. (It is important to note that the products are contaminated during the processing (I would guess from the equipment), but because processing plants will often process many foods for many different brands, any product from an implicated brand could be suspect, and organic and conventional brands alike are affected.) But besides the assurance that I'm not slowly poisoning my baby with lead-laced products, I just happen to like everything about home-made baby food. It smells better (a waft from those jars is enough to put your head in the toilet), it tastes betters, I can make sure I'm using the freshest ingredients ensuring optimum nutrition, and E's meals are limited only by my imagination and his discriminating palate. For example, today E sampled eggplant with roasted bell peppers (orange ones). Go look for that in the Gerber aisle! (He loved it, by the way).

Also, apparently the American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its recommendations about introducing solids. You can read the report here. It basically states that if you are going to get a food allergy, you're going to get it no matter when you were first introduced to the food. I had read a few years ago that delaying solids until 6 months does reduce the risk of food allergy, but that after that, it makes no difference (although the reason that I delayed solids until six months is that prior to that, any solid food will decrease baby's ability to absorb iron, increasing their risk for iron-deficiency anemia).  Exclusively breastfed babies have the most protection from food allergies, with the greatest benefits seen in those children who are at risk for food allergies (one parent or one sibling with a food allergy).

If you are interested in making home-made baby food, here's a site that I have found very helpful. My baby cubes have also held up through three children and are still going strong. I've had to throw some away because the lids wouldn't close, but I think that for the price, it's a great deal.

"Healthier" Cookies

Here's a find that I love: The Target brand 'Archer Farms" break and bake cookie dough (in the frozen section of the "pantry" items) has no hydrogenated oils, and no high fructose corn syrup! Makes me feel a tad better about splurging!

Beautiful Soup, So Rich and Green!

Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,

Waiting in a hot tureen!

Who for such dainties would not stoop?

Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

Soup of the evening, beautiful Soup!

Beau-ootiful Soo-oop!

~Lewis Carroll

 Want to add a bit of extra nutrition and flavor to your soups? It's easy to do! Just make a broth from any dark, leafy green (such as kale, spinach, turnip, collard, or mustard greens, to name a few). Cover in abundant water, add a bit of salt, and boil until the broth is very dark and rich. You can also add a few more nutrients by adding one can of organic chicken broth with the water. You can eat the greens (which are delicious!) separately and reserve the liquid for a variety of uses. You can add the liquid as a stock to any soup, and one of my tricks to cook purple hull or crowder peas in the stock instead of in water. The peas get so much flavor from the broth! Or you can add it to mashed potatoes instead of milk. The broth is so good, in fact, that you can simply drink it on its own. In her book, Unplugged Kitchen, Viana la Place writes of her grandmother's "Verdura cure." Once a month, her Italian grandmother would fast, drinking only the broth some dark greens all day long. La Place claims this, along with lots of walking, is what gave her little grandmother a long, healthy life.

If you are feeling under the weather, try "the Verdura Cure." According to the Weston A. Price Foundation, broth is so good for you when you are sick because it provides a range of vitamins and minerals in a form that is easily absorbed and very useful to your weary body.

Kale: King of the Brassicas! And a recipe for real-life: Braised Kale with Potatoes and Carrots

I love kale! The only place that I can find it here in AR is at Whole Foods. At an independent health food store, I once asked if they carried kale. The reply, "No, because people around here don't seem to know what to do with it, so they never buy it." That is one of the saddest things I've heard, next to a story by Michael Pollan where a group of Oakland middle-schoolers were taken to a garden, where they exclaimed in horror, "the food comes from dirt!?" 


Kale (which is incredibly easy to grow from seed, by the way), is a member of that much-talked about, highly-regarded, loathed by children veggie family the Brassicas. If we were to compare it to the table of elements, the Brassicas would be the noble gasses. It has long been known that regular consumption of Brassicas will reduce your risk of many different kinds of cancer, improve lung function, and improved mental function, but a study by the University of HI found that they contain cardiovascular benefits as well. Consuming even tiny amounts of cruciferous veggies, like kale, can lower your LDL and triglyceride levels, thanks to a phytonutrient called indole-3-carbinol. Indole-3-carbinol signals to your liver to slow production of a cholesterol transporter.

Broccoli and cauliflower are other esteemed members of this family, which are all descendants of wild cabbages. It seems that kale was brought to Europe from Asia Minor by Celtic wanderers at roughly 600 B.C. Our forefathers brought kale to the Americas sometime during the 17th century. And interestingly enough, kale was an important crop during Roman times, and with its nutritional profile, no wonder!

Kale really packs a one-two punch for immune support, with tons of vitamin C and vitamin K (an oft-absent nutrient from our modern diets, critical to immune health). Kale is also an excellent source of dietary fiber, vitamin E, manganese, and vitamin A, a smattering of B vitamins (including folate), a few omega-3 fatty-acids, and potassium. Holy brassicas, Batman! With all those vitamins, it must taste like a certain four-letter word, right? Wrong again! It actually tastes like chocolate!

Ok, not really. Kale certainly has a strong flavor (stronger than, say, spinach), and if not handled properly, it can be bitter. I love kale sauteed in olive oil and topped with freshly grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese (If you're feeling really decadent, you can fry up some bacon first to render the fat, then saute the kale with the bacon in the pan juices. Oh, my!). Don't forget the sea-salt and freshly ground black pepper! I've also just hand-torn the leaves and tossed them in salads. Lacinato, or the smoother variety of kale is better for that, as it is slightly sweeter than the curly kale. Ornamental kale is also edible (though not recommended), and when you cut out the center core, the outside purple leaves make a stunning living bowl for dips.

But what I really love about kale is that it has so much heart. No, I don't mean like celery or artichokes. There is such a heartiness to kale, that when cooked, it can make you forget that you're not eating meat. This quality, so rare in veggies, makes it an excellent choice for vegetarians, and those on special diets because it can actually fill you up. And the calorie content? Almost miniscule. Here is my favorite recipe for cooking kale. The kale takes on an almost smoky flavor, and the hearty stew quality makes it perfect on cold winter nights with nothing more than a thick slice of rustic bread. It's so delicious, in fact, that you won't even miss the red meat!

Braised Kale with Potatoes and Carrots


2 bunch kale, leaves removed from stems and sliced into thin strips
6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
olive oil, several turns of the pan (about a TBSP)
4 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed into small pieces
4 carrots, peeled and diced
1 leek, white and pale green parts thinly sliced (make sure to wash away any grit between layers)
coarsely ground sea salt
freshly ground pepper (to taste)


In a large Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add leek, and saute until just tender. Add kale and saute until just wilted. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for ten minutes. Add potatoes and carrots, then cover dish and simmer until tender, at least 30 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste (note: start out light with the salt, as most chicken stock varieties are very salty)

Note: I plan on adding diced turnips (one of my favorite veggies!) the next time I make this. Just peel, dice to same size as potatoes, but turnips take longer to cook, so add them when you add the kale.
UPDATE: 3-14-10-- the turnips were a delicious addition!

Gardener's note: Kale is so very easy to grow from seed. It will germinated even at low temperatures (50 degree F), and will grow through the winter in the AR 7 climate. Kale is relied upon in very cold climates, such as the Icelandic countries and Russia, because of its ability to tolerate the cold. In fact, a light frost just seems to make it sweeter! Fast maturing-- an excellent early spring or fall crop.

Warnings About Vitamin D

First, a note that I am not a health professional, just someone who likes to read.

We're starting to hear a lot about vitamin D lately, and it is no wonder. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to several types of cancer (especially breast cancer), high blood pressure, diabetes (types 1 AND 2), depression, osteoporosis, autoimmune disorders, stroke, Alzheimers, the list goes on and on. This is an essential vitamin, known casually as "the sunshine vitamin" because our bodies can manufacture vitamin D from the UV rays of the sun. I have a Google Alert on vitamin D so that I can keep up with new info about it. About 1 billion people worldwide are deficient in vitamin D. About 80% of women in the US are at least marginally deficient. Also, more and more children are being diagnosed as deficient in vitamin D. In fact, certain diseases once though to be eradicated, such as rickets, are making a comeback and this has health officials baffled. In big cities, they are starting to see kids who are obese, but suffer from malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies. What is particularly scary about vitamin D deficiency affecting children, is that it seems that a severe deficiency early in life will contribute to health problems later....Even if vitamin D levels are brought back up when they are older. (There has been a link made between women who are deficient as youths battling high blood pressure later in life, even after the deficiency was corrected.) 

There are very few food sources of vitamin D apart from sunshine, and with the exception of one, all of them are animal sources. Good, whole milk contains vitamin D, as well as eggs from pastured chickens, but keep in mind that pasteurization destroys all the pathogens, and all the nutrients as well. Manufacturers then add back cheap synthetic, chemically created nutrients which are near-worthless to the body. Especially the vitamin D that they add: most companies boast a "vegetarian source" of vitamin D, meaning D2. That's great, except the vitamin D with all the health benefits is D3, or Cholecalciferol. Also, egg yolks from pastured chickens contain vitamin D, but most chickens today have never seen a pasture. It is a big deal for egg producers to put "vegetarian diet" on their egg-cartons, to let you know that they aren't putting anything sick or gross in their chicken feed (like they put in cattle-feed). That's all well and good, except that chickens aren't meant to be vegetarians: they're omnivores. They love to scavenge and eat insects and worms (remember: insects are an excellent source of high-quality protein!). When chickens are put on a restricted diet, many nutrients found in pastured eggs don't make it into the eggs of commercial chickens. That's why you can only be sure your eggs yolks contain vitamin D if they come from pastured chickens who were allowed to graze and eat their natural diet. 

Of course, the best food-source of vitamin D is from fatty fish, such as salmon, and high quality cod-liver oil. But, of course, we're told to steer clear of fish whenever possible because they are hopelessly contaminated! The least-contaminated fish are deep, cold-water fish from the Pacific ocean which are low on the food chain, like sardines. If you take cod liver oil, do your research to find out how it is processed. Choose the darkest oil you can find (lighter oils likewise nutrient-light). Molecularly distilled is apparently the best process for removing heavy-metals and other pollutants while keeping nutrients intact. The great thing about Cod Liver Oil is that it also contains vitamin A, and the ratio of A to D is in perfect proportion (as are the ratio of omega-6-to-omega-3's). According to The Weston A. Price Foundation, any intake of vitamin D increases your body's need for vitamin A.  But I digress....

The only plant source of vitamin D is found in mushrooms, and it is a scant supply at best. But isn't it fascinating that the only plant source of "the sunshine vitamin" is found in a fungi that grows in the shade???? I think so.

Vitamin D is essential to support your immune system, and has been proven to be more effective at preventing the flu than the flu vaccine....Wait, what???? So, doctors and other healthcare professionals must really be encouraging people to take their vitamin D this winter, right? Wrong. In fact, the opposite is true: doctors often discourage taking vitamin D supplements, recommend no more than 400 IUs of the vitamin, and advise avoiding cod liver oil "to avoid toxicity." Wow. If doctors warn about vitamin D toxicity, it must really be devastating, right? That's what I wanted to know, and this is what I found:

Vitamin D CAN be toxic at extremely high doses. In fact, it is used in rat poison for this very reason (as is Coumadin, a blood thinner which is extremely prevalent in most medicine cabinets). But according to The Vitamin D Council, the dose at which vitamin D will kill half the rats tested, is the equivalent dose of 110-lb human adult ingesting 176,000,000 IUs (that's one-hundred, seventy-six million IUs, in case you have trouble counting the zeros). Also, the only reported case of pharmacological vitamin D toxicity was a man who took an over-the-counter supplement which contained a manufacturing error: the man was unknowingly taking almost 2,000,000 IUs of vitamin D daily for two years. So what happened? He recovered, uneventfully, after proper diagnosis, with a treatment of steroids and sunscreen. And just what are the symptoms of vitamin D toxicity? Well, they appear to be nausea, heartburn, and constipation or diarrhea. Because vitamin D is a natural blood thinner (which is why it is important for blood pressure and heart health), it can thin the blood too much when taken in excessive doses, causing dizziness. oh, my! Dizziness! What a horrible side-effect! So much worse than stroke or lymphoma, a common side-effect of many prescription drugs, which is a particularly deadly type of cancer that attacks the lymph system. Wait...what? So, doctors have no qualms prescribing drugs known to cause an aggressive type of cancer with a low survival rate in order to treat restless-leg syndrome, but are fearful of you getting more than 400 IUs of vitamin D on the basis of "toxicity", which will affect you basically the same way as a Chicago-style deep dish pizza? 

If we follow the logic that because we were meant to make vitamin D from the sun, we could measure how much vitamin D we make during a day in the sun and consider that a healthy dose, right? So just how much vitamin D do you make from the sun? Well, 30 minutes (sans sunscreen) in the summer sun, and you'll make over 10,000 IU's of vitamin D. But wait...I thought the RDA was only 400 IU's, for fear of toxicity! So this must mean that every person who ever lived before the invention of sunscreen suffered from vitamin D toxicity! That's a lot of constipated people! Or, could it possibly be that we need MUCH, MUCH MORE vitamin D than was previously realized? Considering that all the diseases that vitamin D is known to prevent are only modern phenomena's and are directly correlated with the modern phenomenon of vitamin D deficiency, I'd say the later is more logical. 

I have decided to take 4,000 IUs of vitamin D3 daily, and have had only positive results. I could probably do more, but it is true that it doesn't pay to be over-zealous with supplements. And I don't have time to get the runs.

A Delicate Balance

I'm at that point in pregnancy that when planning what I'm going to eat, I have to strike a delicate balance between two thoughts: 1) if this is my last meal before I go into labor, would it give me the nutrients I need to sustain me through?; and 2) if this is my last meal before I go into labor, would I be comfortable throwing it up?

I'm trying to choose meals with lots of iron and potassium, as well as vitamin C to keep my immune system up. Tonight I have the added bonus of fighting off yet another virus that we are passing around (which my girls brought home from Sunday school. This happens every time they go with their grandparents, but that is a rant for another time). My poor, pregnancy-depleted immune system is putting up a good fight, though! So far I've managed to keep any real misery at bay and am just a little tired and have a runny nose. My littlest one, again, had the lightest case, but my older one is having a tough time getting over it. I think what is so hard is that when they are so little, there is nothing you can give them to make them more comfortable. That is why I rely so heavily on food and nutrition to help heal right now. I am a firm believer that when you are truly sick, you need medicine, but let's face it: if you don't provide your immune system with the support it needs, how can it possibly work? So it's lots of sunshine for us, as well as foods rich in vitamin C, such as kiwi, sweet potatoes, and chicken broth. Sweet potatoes are especially good, because they are so rich in vitamin A, which you need to absorb vitamin D, which you need to absorb vitamin C. In fact, vitamin C has had its time in the media spotlight, and vitamin D is currently getting all the attention as it is becoming more widely studied, but vitamin A isn't really thought much about. However, any intake in vitamin D drastically increases your body's need for vitamin A, so I predict that in the next 2-5 years we'll start hearing more about how important this vitamin is for good health.

I'm trying very hard to stay out of the processed foods (but did I mention that my mother brought home 2-dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts...and then conveniently went to Texas and left me alone with them???), not just because they are empty calories and not good for my waistline and are useless to the baby, but also because the acidity of sugar will deplete your immune system, making you even more vulnerable to colds and viruses. I've done pretty well, but if only I could stay off processed foods completely! I'm getting there. It's been at least a week since I've eaten out. However, there is something about bread, carbs, and sugar that SEEMS so comforting when you don't feel good. Too bad they actually make you more tired.

Cloth Diaper Update!

I am totally in love with cloth diapering. Is that silly? Perhaps, but I'm shamefully silly about nearly everything I do, so nothing new there. I've gotten my youngest daughter back into cloth, and I absolutely love it. In fact, since I've gotten my routine down, I'm finding that the whole, "disposable are so convenient" line to be total hogwash for my situation. For me, they are no more convenient than cloth. In fact, I find them to be less convenient. (Ironically, that was my same conclusion for formula vs. breastmilk: who EVER said that constantly washing, sterilizing, and measuring bottles was convenient when you can just whip out your boob and have the perfect meal at the perfect temp with no clean-up? And need I mention that it's FREE? okay, rant over). Constantly dealing with the smell, hauling out the trash, going to the diaper box to discover that I am COMPLETELY out of diapers and need to run to the store for more, my daughters inevitably outgrowing a size when I have just purchased a $45 bulk box and I have tons leftover....None of those things spell convenience for me. Of course, they are preventable with extra planning. But any inconvenience with cloth is preventable with extra planning, too. Here's what I've learned to streamline my current cloth-diaper routine:


Get a diaper pail liner: If your washing machine has an agitator, you can just dump the whole bag into the wash and the diapers will agitate out of the bag during the cycle. Since I have a front-loader, I just turn the bag inside out in the washer and wash the bag with the diapers. No more sticking my hands in a dirty-diaper pail! Genius!

For cloth wipes, get a regular wipe-warmer and fill it with your pre-soaked cloth wipes. That way they are already damp and warm and ready to use. I cannot tell you how much of my life I wasted at the sink with the baby in a dirty diaper on my hip, waiting for the tap water to warm up so I could get the wipe wet.  I didn't hear this tip soon enough! I had heard of the 'spray bottle at the changing table' idea, but that didn't solve my dilemma of wanting the wipes to be warm (I certainly don't want my bottom wiped with a cold rag!).  The wipe-warmer has been the perfect solution!

Make sure the diaper pail gets some airflow. If it is sealed airtight, it will smell. I always sealed it before because I thought that would keep it from smelling, but the opposite turned out to be true! I just set the lid on top of the pail without sealing it, and there is no smell. I don't mean it doesn't smell much, I mean there is no smell. My experience is that disposables in the diaper genie are far more offensive to the nose. While my diapers are washing, I do a quick rinse of the diaper pail with water and vinegar, then put in a fresh liner (I have two).  It takes me about five minutes to start the diapers in the wash, rinse the diaper pail, and put in the fresh liner-- about the same time that it takes me to take the garbage out.

Be willing to experiment. This was the advice that I got from Green Mountain Diapers, and it is just about the best advice I've ever heard. There are SO many different ways to cloth diaper, and so much of it is subjective, based on your own taste and your own, unique child. Really, it is over-whelming. When I first started, I was convinced that it would be easier with expensive diaper covers. Now that I bought three to try, I found that the cheap Dappi Nylon Covers were easier for me and fit my daughter better. It took a lot of experimentation, too, to find the routine that worked for me and my daughter. Here's what we have so far:

I have two diaper pails: one for poopy diapers and wipes next to the toilet in the bathroom, and one next to the changing table in my daughter's room for wet diapers and covers that do not need to be rinsed. Since not every diaper needs to be rinsed, I don't have to walk to the bathroom at EVERY diaper change like I did for two years.  Every night, I pick up the diaper pail as I leave my daughter's room and immediately throw everything from both pails in the wash. I rinse the pails and change the liners. It takes me five minutes.  At some point before I go to bed, I hang everything up to air-dry over night. This takes about 5 minutes. When I wake up in the morning, I toss the diapers only (not wipes or covers) into the dryer for 15 minutes to get soft. It takes me two minutes. Then I put everything away whenever I put away the other laundry.

Maybe that does take me a few more minutes total (I believe I'm at 12 minutes of my actually time being used) than it takes to take the trash outside and put a new plastic bag in the trash can or diaper genie, but it's not nearly as big a difference as disposable diaper companies would have me believe. You also have to rinse out diaper genies occasionally to keep them from getting nasty. You are also supposed to take disposables to the bathroom and dump the poop into the toilet before throwing it away. Let's face it: diapering children is not convenient no matter which method you use. And for me personally and my situation, what little difference in convenience there is, it is not enough to convince me that it is worth the astronomical price tag, or exposure to harmful chemicals.

Recipe: Summer Tomato Risotto with Spinach

I can't say enough about spinach. What a nutritional powerhouse! This leafy green, which is thought to be native to Persia (now Iran), should be a staple in the diet of every health-conscious person, but should especially be incorporated during pregnancy. Spinach is an excellent source of iron, a host of B vitamins, including riboflavin (B2) and folate (the naturally occurring form of folic acid), as well as calcium, potassium, and vitamins A, C, and K. It's also a good source of dietary fiber. Your baby will thank you for eating as much spinach as you can. Folate is known to prevent the birth defect, spina bifida, and vitamin K, calcium, and iron are all essential to bone development.

So, now you may know of a few of the many reasons why you need to eat more spinach, but nutrition alone has never been enough to convince anyone to eat anything. But guess what? It's delicious! This is one green that I usually prefer fresh over cooked, and I easily incorporate it anytime a recipe calls for it's less-nutritionally dense cousin, lettuce. I'm not a fan of the soggy, gross boiled spinach that I remember from my childhood (the kind Popeye ate from the can), but luckily there are a host of ways to prepare spinach that are both more delicious, and more nutritious. It's hard to beat a good spinach salad, but spinach sauteed in olive oil with garlic is right up there in my book. I also like it wilted in stir-fries. And can we get a shout-out for spinach dip, please?

I like to make a game of buying fresh, baby spinach in bulk at Sam's and seeing how much of it I can eat before it goes bad. Of course, since I wash it in my fabulous lotus washer, it lasts longer than it normally would, but still. It's a lot of spinach to consume. Naturally, I add it to everything I can, and tonight's dinner was no exception. Simple tomato risotto sounded boring. Where was the color variation? What it needed was some green.

Risotto is a traditional Italian rice dish, made with a short-grain, round rice. Arborio is commonly used and easy to find.  It seems that rice was known in Italy a-way back in the Roman days, but was not common and was used mainly for medicinal purposes. It seems that the Arabs introduced rice to Northern Italy sometime during the Middle Ages, and it became a staple crop of the Po Valley sometime in the mid-late 1400's. Risotto is an extremely flavorful dish that takes some practice, but I found to be more forgiving than it is rumored to be. Just be patient and keep stirring!

Here is my recipe for Tomato Risotto with Spinach. There were no leftovers!


Tomato Risotto with Spinach

1 small package arborio rice
1 14-oz can diced tomatoes with liquid, warmed

1/3 cup good wine, warmed (white would be best, but I only had red and it was fine. I warmed mine in the microwave...DO NOT add cold, or it will "shock" the rice) 
1 medium onion, diced (I had a red onion on hand)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups chicken stock, warmed (again, cold liquid will shock the rice), use more or less if needed

2 tablespoons butter, divided
2 cups fresh baby spinach 
salt and pepper to taste



In a large Dutch oven over medium heat, melt 1 tbsp butter and saute onion until translucent. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute more. Add rice and saute until golden brown (5-7 minutes), stirring constantly. When rice is toasted, add the wine in slow constant stream, stirring gently to keep mixture from sticking. Next, add the stock, one ladle-full at a time. Keep stirring gently, adding each ladle-full once rice has absorbed what is in the pan. Then add the canned tomatoes with liquid and continue to stir gently. When rice has reached the "al dente" stage, add the spinach and stir until it is tender and incorporated.  Turn of heat and stir in the last tbsp of butter to make it extra rich and creamy. Top with grated pecorino romano or parmigiano reggiano and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately! Enjoy!

How I Try to Stay Healthy During Cold and Flu Season

As a single mom with two active kids and one on the way, I cannot afford to get sick this winter. Period. In our household, there is so much to do that we need all hands on deck and I do not have the luxury of staying in bed or "taking it easy" (honestly, who nowadays CAN do that?). Luckily, neither of my kids go to daycare or school, so their exposure level is far below normal, but that doesn't mean we won't pick something up at the grocery store. The way that I try to get healthy is to not get sick in the first place. Easier said than done, right? Well, there are a few things that I do to give my immune system a boost:

Eat well. Flu season especially is no time to eat junk. I try to eat a wide variety of colors to ensure I'm getting enough vitamins and minerals. I know that if my body is struggling to process excess sugar or protein, it's already going to be too stressed to fight off any foreign entities!

Brush, floss, and Listerine at least twice a day, that's how I keep myself healthy. The mouth is a gateway to the body. If you can keep it clean and kill the germs BEFORE they enter your stomach, you're giving a major boon to your immune system. When I start to get a scratchy throat, I rinse my mouth with Listerine for at least 30 seconds several times a day. I have found that for me, this will stop a cold dead in its tracks faster than any medication.

Wash hands! (we all know that one!) I also try to keep from touching my face.

I take a Probiotic Advantage every day. This tiny pearl of acidophiles replenishes the "good" bacteria in your gut, which will not only keep you regular, it keeps your immune system in a healthy balance.

And if my body is giving me signs that it is struggling: acne outbreaks, mouth ulcers, (what signs does your body give you?), I start taking extra Vitamin C and drink lots and lots of water. I also drink a cup of hot green tea with local honey for the antioxidants- something I should do year-round, and not just when I'm getting a cold.

Cloth Diaper 101: Do Your Research!

I am trying to get back into cloth diapering again. Since potty training is in reach with both my girls, I might be tempted to just ride out baby #3 in disposables, except that baby #3 is a boy, and I feel even more passionate about cloth diapering boys than I do girls, as disposable diapers have been linked to lower fertility and infertility in men, due to overheating of the scrotum. Cloth diapers allow more air circulation, which allows the body to keep the testicles at the right temperature--several degrees cooler than the body--for proper development. Of course, certain chemicals in disposable diapers cause female problems in the workers who manufacture disposable diapers, so maybe it is not more important for one sex over the other. But there are other reasons I chose to use cloth diapers, too.

-They promote more frequent changing. Since they are not as absorbent as disposable diapers, cloth diapers guarantee frequent changing, which means that all that waste isn't held up next to your babies skin for hours.
-They are easier on baby's skin. Disposable diapers are laden with chemicals that your baby could be allergic to. Cloth diapers, especially organic ones, are free from such agitators. (for an article outlining some of the health risks of disposables, click here.)
-They are better on the environment. Our landfills are literally full of disposable diapers, which are not biodegradable. Also, read the package instructions on those disposables: you're supposed to put the poop in the toilet anyway (although nobody does), because the poop in the landfill doesn't get treated at the sewage plant. Instead, it seeps into the ground and contaminates our ground water.

and the number one reason that I love cloth diapers and chose to use them:
-they are so much cheaper, it is unbelievable.

I got sidetracked back into disposables during our move from CA to AR, when things were so crazy I wasn't able to wash diapers. Don't get me wrong: I LOVE cloth diapering! It is my diapering method of choice, but it does come with some drawbacks: it is more time consuming and takes more planning, as anything worthwhile does. However, the enormous financial benefit, as well as the health benefits that I believe to be true of cloth diapers, far outweigh any inconveniences in my mind. For my first two girls, I was a novice. I know I made a lot of cloth diaper mistakes, but as it happened, no mistake was crucial. However, the upfront cost of cloth diapering is significant. And while your savings over time (think of shelling out an extra $150-$200 per child in diapers per month for two years for disposables*) far outweighs this initial investment, it is great enough that you really need to do your homework before making a purchase. I wish, wish, wish that I had found The Diaper Pin my first time around. Although my cloth diapering experience turned out okay (I used BumGenius! bamboo diapers with a Dappi nylon cover), I wish I'd had The Diaper Pin's product reviews when making my initial selections.

Before, I purchased diapers from Cotton Babies, an online store that also has a retail location in St. Louis, MO. the customer service was excellent, the prices reasonable, the website helpful. I have nothing but good things to say about them.

This time, I ordered diapers from Green Mountain Diapers, because they carried a brand of Indian cotton pre-folds that were more highly reviewed on The Diaper Pin than the Indian cotton pre-folds sold at Cotton Babies. I placed my order at 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and it was shipped that afternoon. This website was also incredibly helpful, with lots of pictures of babies wearing the diapers so you could get a better idea of how they fit. My order was sent UPS, and should arrive next week. I also found this store to carry only what is necessary. For example, they don't sell diaper pails, because they said that you can use any container with a lid. That's the kind of "cut to the point" sales that I appreciate.

*NOTE: I recently saw an ad by a diaper company that estimated the cost of disposable diapers as much lower, about $75-$100. per month I totaled up in my head, and this estimates the cost for diapers only, and does not include the significant cost of disposable baby wipes, which are nearly as expensive as the diapers themselves, but you go through much faster. My experience the last few months in disposables has been about $300-$350 per month for two toddlers.)

Of Memories and Muscadines

We all have them: those golden, pure, perfect memories of a childhood summer day. The ones that it seems no amount of time can diminish or fade. They are burned into our mind's eye forever, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

I don't know why this one particular memory stuck with me. Nothing special happened, nothing kids today would find particularly interesting. We were just a bunch of kids, I think 5 or 6 of us, all cousins (two of them were my brothers), visiting our grandparents' house out in "the country".  It was a hot, late  summer afternoon and we walked down the looooonnnggg, winding driveway towards the road, where we picked wild muscadines for Mamaw to make into muscadine jelly.  Of course, we ate tons of them straight off the vine. I still remember the little "pop" as they burst in my mouth, and that rush of wild, tangy flavor, and the bitterness if you got one not quite ripe.

This has been one of my favorite childhood memories, perhaps for the simple fact that I was included in the group of "big kids" for once. Perhaps it was because we were partaking of a tradition in the spirit of pioneers: harvesting food wild from the land!  I was a very sentimental child like that. Whatever the reason, the mere utterance of the word "muscadine" will bring it all back. So it's no surprise that when we were picking strawberries back in June at a local U-Pick orchard and they advertised that they would have muscadines in August, my sentimentality took over and I pre-ordered 2 gallons worth: one each of red and white muscadines.

Let's fast forward to late August, after a phone-call to let me know that my order was ready and a drive to the orchard to pick it up, and I have 2 gallons of muscadines sitting on my kitchen counter. And, for laughs, let's throw in the fact that I don't know how to make jellies, jams, or sauces that muscadines are typically used for, so I have no way to consume them unless I eat them like grapes. By myself. All two gallons. It's nearly enough to make me wish I'd never heard of muscadines!

But after a few minutes of allowing myself to wallow in buyer's remorse, I decide to get on with it. They're just grapes, after all, and I am a fully-grown Homo sapien with complex rational thought, problem solving skills, and opposable thumbs. No way are those grapes getting the best of me! I head to my first line of defense: the internet! A feat of man no mere Vitis rotundifolia could ever conceive of! I begin my research and quickly succumb to another weakness of mine: fascination. Damn, if those little buggers aren't fascinating! Here's a bit of what I uncovered:

Muscadines are native to the Southeastern United States. They were discovered in 1584 by Sir Walter Raleigh. The name muscadine comes from the word, muscus, which is the root of the muscat grape, as well. Early settlers called the new, wild grape of America after a grape they were no doubt familiar with. A golden/bronze muscadine was found growing and then cultivated along the Scuppernong river, and so were given the name scuppernong. Muscadines are no doubt the red-headed step-child of the wine industry, but for no good reason other than blatant wine snobbery and ancient prejudice. This little jewel of the South is high in vitamin C, vitamin B, and manganese, and are higher in calcium, fiber, iron, and zinc than most other fruits. But muscadines are also a significantly better source of that "miracle" compound, resveratrol, than their more popular grape cousins. Wondering where you've heard that word before? Resveratrol is that compound found in red wine that is thought to reduce abnormal cells and lower your risk of heart disease. It has been in the news recently as containing the key to "The French Paradox", and is also thought to have anti-aging benefits.

So now I am totally thrilled that I have 2 gallons of muscadines on my counter, and I can't wait to try some recipes. I found a recipe for muscadine jelly that doesn't seem too intimidating, here. I will let you know how that turns out, and hopefully I'll some muscadine recipes of my own to post. But for those of you wanting to try muscadines without all the work, there's always muscadine wine!

Sources on Muscadines:
Paulk Vineyards
USDA Website
Birmingham Business Journal

For A little Bit on Arkansas Wine:
Wiederkehr Wine Cellars

Daily Thoughts, 1-6-09

So the recent holidays brought with them a flood of company. And while that is usually enjoyable, it has brought a single question to my mind. We’re not exactly flushed with money currently. That should be no surprise: we have two kids and are living in one of the most expensive regions in the US. So while we make a living that in other areas would be a really good one, it is just getting us by here. Our families know this, and when they come to visit, they very graciously stock our pantry, buy our gas, take us out to eat, etc. I don’t want there to be any gray area on this fact: they are more than generous to us, and we completely appreciate it.

But money is a sticky subject, and it always comes with strings, even if they say that it doesn’t. When someone is offering to pay for your meal at a restaurant, you would let them choose the restaurant, right? That’s just good manners. So what do you do when they are offering to fill your fridge, but they don’t have the same food values that you do? Let me explain.

I’ve been doing a lot of research about food. And even though it is more expensive, I believe that it is important to buy locally, and buy fresh. I also like to buy organic when I can, but the term “organic” is almost worthless since big agri-business has caught on to the trend. I consider this as an investment in my community.  It is important to spend your money where you live, on businesses owned by your friends and neighbors. After all, they are voting in your community, their kids are going to school there, their tax dollars are going there, etc. It is all part of living in society. Better food is also an investment in my self. And hopefully by spending a little more on food now and making better choices, I’ll save big bucks on my health care through the years. And most importantly, I see it as an investment in my kids’ health. By teaching them to think about what they put into their bodies and make smart choices. I think exposure is key. It is not that I want to completely ban all junk food, but I want to teach them to take it in moderation.

But not everyone feels this way. Some people, like my parents and in-laws, feel that one should just spend the least amount of money on food, no matter what. And I can understand that, especially in these lean times. It does seem silly to spend more money when you could be spending less. But just because I respect that view, doesn’t mean that I necessarily agree with it. So what do I do when they’re paying for the food?

My gut tells me to just let them buy what they will, but honestly, I long for the day when I don’t need them to fill my pantry at all.  My thoughts are, if I want to receive, then I should just shut my mouth and be grateful. And I am grateful. I am overwhelmed at the help that they have given us. On the other hand, should they have more respect the for the way I live my life and the choices that I make?  What do you think?

 

I cannot wait for the day when I can afford to buy enough food for my family and company, and then this won’t be an issue at all.