Things I Love This Week

ScharffenBerger 70% Dark Chocolate Bar
I've been indulging in this artisan chocolate recently, which I can only find at my local Whole Foods. I LOVE the texture. It has that real hard texture when you first bite into it, which I love, but immediately melts smooth and creamy in your mouth. Plus, there's no bitter aftertaste, even though it's not sweet.

The Republic of Tea: Pomegranate and Vanilla Red Tea
I'm loving the soothing flavors of this red tea. Even though it's caffeine-free, I've found it's just the thing for a break on a hectic afternoon. And sip easy, because $1 from the sale of this tea will support the Susan G Koman for the Cure.

Innobaby Packin' Smart
I love these little stackable containers. I pack the girls' snacks for our trips out and about. They are perfect for raisins, cheerios, etc, but would be great for vitamins, paperclips, whatever. However, if you are using them for little ones, you can rest assured that they are BPA-free.

Homemade Vanilla Yogurt Pops
 I filled out basic popsicle molds with regular, Brown Cow Vanilla Yogurt and put them in the freezer. Then I told the girls it was ice cream. They never knew the difference!

Farm Fresh Eggs
I found egg from pastured chickens at my local farmer's market for about half the cost of the grocery store. The flavor is far superior to store-bought eggs. Plus, I love supporting the farmer's directly! Here's a tip: egg yolks are bright orange when they are fresh. Those yellow yolks from the grocery store mean they're poor quality eggs that have already had a long shelf-life.

Muscadine Update: Muscadine Sauce

So, I promised to update about the muscadines. I didn't attempt jelly like I had originally planned. Honestly, I've never made jelly before, and I chickened out. That's a project to attempt another day. So I went a route I'm more familiar with: muscadine syrup. I make fresh blueberry or strawberry syrup every time the girls and I make pancakes, so I figured I would just substitute the muscadines for the blueberries. The resulting sauce was delicious! But I wouldn't call it a syrup. The nature of the muscadines made this much thicker, so it was more like a sauce. I could have strained the skins, but I wanted to keep more vitamins in the sauce, so I pureed it instead. The muscadines took a long time to cook down, more than 30 minutes. I actually let it cook a bit too long, and so my sauce was quite thick (that's what we get for crafting while we wait!) but it was still delicious spooned over our pancakes this morning!  Here's how I did it:


Muscadine Butter


2 quarts muscadines, seeded
1/2 cup pure sorghum
1 tbps lime juice (that's what I had on hand)


combine all ingredients in a large Dutch oven. Let cook down for about 30 minutes or until all combined and muscadines are tender. Blend in with either immersion or stand blender.

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.

Late-Summer Garden

I am STILL getting okra from my 8 okra seedlings. And some of it is growing so fast that I can't keep up. I never dreamed it would do so well (note to self: do not plant okra in a 4-foot raised bed next year, as it grows to be 7-feet tall. The resulting 11-foot branches were hard to reach). Also, all my eggplants are coming ripe at once, and we are finally getting substantial peppers! I found the problem to my witherings squash: little white, flat-bodied bugs crawling all over it! They seem to be (thankfully) ignoring everything else, but they were totally immune to my insecticidal soap. Here's what I picked yesterday:

 

It is by no means a huge haul, but I am incredibly proud of it. This is the first year I've actually grown enough to eat all summer. Usually I just have one tomato plant in a pot.

Test Kitchen Recipe: Farfalle with Eggplant Cream Sauce

It happened again: I had 5 eggplants sitting on the counter begging to be eaten. I had impulsively bought all that was left in the last five minutes of the farmer's market. The eggplants were beautiful: shiny, small, but heavy. Firm, but not hard. Perfect. Then the indecision of how to use them overcame me, and they have sat on my counter ever since, whispering "Eat me! Eat me!" every time I walked past. I've already written about eggplants a couple of times (here and here) and I've made several eggplant dishes this summer. In fact, I've probably eaten more eggplant in the last three months than I have in my entire life. Plus, I've got 8 pretty purple fruits ripening in my own garden bed. I know I'm going to make the roasted eggplant spread again this summer, but today, I wanted to try something different. In my head, I thought up a luscious-sounding recipe: farfalle pasta tossed in an creamy eggplant sauce. My inspiration was a twist on an artichoke sauce I had at Mimi's Cafe. I carefully thought out my ingredient list, and this afternoon, I set to work. Here's what I came up with. It was by no means perfect, but there was enough promise that I'm going to try again. It will, however, need some major tweaking. Here's the recipe (tweaks in red):

Farfalle with Eggplant Cream Sauce

5 small eggplant, sweated and cubed (that ended up being a lot; probably 2 medium, or 3 small is enough. Needs to sweat longer than 30 minutes, more than one bite ended up being bitter. Should peel it next time, although color will be missed)
1 large tomato, diced (needed more. Probably at least 2)
3 cloves garlic, minced (try roasting garlic first)

1 handful spinach (spinach was too bitter; try fresh basil leaves)
3 TBSP butter
1/2 onion, diced (try a sweeter onion, like a red onion or vidalia variety. Needs the whole thing)
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated pecorino romano (needed more, but I ran out)

1 tsp basil (wasn't enough. Eliminate dried basil if using fresh, above)

fresh ground pepper to taste
1 tsp sea salt (needed more)
1 package farfalle (or preferred pasta shape), cooked according to package instructions


In a large Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Sautee onion until tender, add garlic. Sautee 1 minute more, then add the eggplant. Sautee until soft. Add the tomato. Sautee until soft. Add cream. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Add dried basil, salt, and pepper (eliminate dried basil if using fresh. Add fresh basil in place of spinach). Let simmer 15 minutes. Stir in spinach, continue stirring until it is just wilted. Add pecorino romano. Pour over cooked pasta. Toss. Serve immediately.

The Result
Not my favorite result, but there is promise. The eggplant ended up being bitter, which might be because it was a few days old. If I had used it the day I bought it, I think it would have been better (eggplant really does not save well, and should be used ASAP). I plan to try it with the adjustments in red and see if it turns out better. Also, mine ended up being under-seasoned, which is really rare for me. Usually I am very freer with spices. I think if I get those things fixed, this could be one of those dishes where you lick the bowl at the end. I served it with a hearty French bread, which was perfect. This was a very rustic sauce, and it takes a hearty bread to hold up to it! I thought a great addition might be roasted red bell peppers instead of tomatoes, to add some extra sweetness to the sauce. And I think the addition of mushrooms (maybe crimini mushrooms?) would lend itself well to the rustic nature of the dish.

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.)

Things I Love This Week

Apricot Baby Oil
 Summer days in the sun and wind dry out my girls' skin, so I've been using this all-natural apricot oil after bath-time to keep them soft and smooth. Its natural scent is nice and mild, and once it is dry on their skin, it is not greasy at all.

Wicked Plants
This book is one of those books that is great for browsing through, not really to read all in one sitting. Nice if you've got just a few minutes to peruse. It is full of cautionary tales, interesting histories, and the pictures are great (if a little gruesome). Who knew that over 68,000 people die every year from accidental plant poisonings? Many of the plants featured in the Harry Potter series actually exist and are featured here. It was fun to learn the actual history behind Wolf's Bane and Mandrake Root.

A Homemade Life
I love Molly Wizenburg's thoughtful prose. Some stories have made me laugh out loud, and the recipes sound delicious. I haven't had a chance to make anything yet, but you'd better believe that I'm planning to!

The Diaper Pin
I'm planning on doing cloth diapers again for my new baby, as well as for my other two, who are both potty training. I wish, wish, wish that I had done my homework and found this website when I was choosing cloth diapers before. Although I lucked out and ended up with some quality diapers that served me well through two babies,  the reviews on The Diaper Pin are indispensable. I feel very confident with the choices I made this time around, and I ended up spending way less money.

Etsy:
I just had my first "Etsy" experience! My aunt made stockings from Bucilla Kits for all my brothers and me when we were born, and it has always been one of my most cherished Christmas traditions. Although I would have loved to make a stocking for each of my own kids, these stockings are tedious, requiring between 40-60 hours to make (that translates into about 100 hours for a novice crafter like me) and I knew I simply would not have the time. Thanks to Etsy, I was able to buy a completed stocking for my little baby's first Christmas. It doesn't come personalized, of course, but I'm handy enough to do that part myself. Of course, I spent way too much on it, but it was worth every penny to satisfy my sentimentality and not have to make it myself.