Holiday Preparation - already?

First, let me apologize for not having the next installment of the Lifebook Series up here today. Things got a little wacky. I promise it'll be up by the end of the week!

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I was very excited to see the FedEx man today -with my soap supplies! I am going to try making our soap, after being inspired by FIMBY. Actually, all my friends and family will be receiving homemade gifts this year. Partly a financial decision, and partly due to the ease of "school age" children, I've been concocting tinctures for our sniffles, vanilla extract to gift to friends, and now, soon, soap! I'm so excited!

My first batch will be a simple one, lightly scented with lavender. I'm hoping it will be mild enough for all our uses, but sudsy enough to be good in the bathtub (my kids can get so very dirty!)

Other distractions include the very pretentious but quite effective Recovery Clinic. With elite triathletes traipsing in and out, I sort of feel like a faker, but the boots felt great! The Graston, not so much. So, with three weeks to go til my marathon, I plan to visit the clinic after each run to help my recovery. Boulder is so funny.

I was psyched to see that my In My Kitchen post was cross-linked through BlogHer and that brought a lot of traffic! So fun to see that happen - especially since that post was such a good one for me. Life just happens, you know?

So, there's been lots more roasting of tomatoes, baking of snacks (vegan peanut butter rice crispy treats! Yum!), and other sundry cooking, as well as training, TKD-ing, homework-helping (with two kiddos having homework, I'm definitely feeling the pressure to help them "make time" to get it done) ... well, there is just a lot of doing around here lately!

How are your days? Is the Fall weather inspiring busy-ness, or a snuggle-back-into-the-covers approach? (I admit that I start each day with that!)

In my kitchen...

Today has not turned into the day I had planned. Life is funny that way, isn't it? I had planned to do my 20-miler today, to free up my weekend. I woke up this morning, still tired from rehearsal in Denver last night, sneezed, and felt my raw throat tighten when I swallowed. Oh dear. This was not the day to be out in the chilly, wet air for four hours, I supposed.

I got the kids off to school and had a minor calendar confusion, which eliminated any hope of me making it to my 9am yoga class. Oh well. I made myself a cup of echinachea tea with some slippery elm bark powder and surveyed my kitchen.

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A large crate of 50 ears of corn lay waiting in the pantry. A huge flat of over 40 tomatoes glowed red in the corner of the kitchen. And the bread bag, when I reached for a slice of toast, had only once slice left. Decision made.

So far, I've put 4 four-cup bags of fresh corn kernels into the freezer, ready and waiting to be turned into one of our favorites, Corn Chowder. About 25 tomatoes are chopped and roasting in the oven, putting off a heavenly aroma, soon to be turned into another favorite, Soulemama's Carrot Tomato Soup. Mmm. And the bread is rising. In this chilly house, I am grateful to have the time to let it rise all day if it needs to. This afternoon the delicious smell of fresh bread will greet my two (of three) children after school.

Speaking of children, I am minus one this week. Ted is at 100 Elk, up in the mountains with his 4/5 class. They are hiking, canoeing, doing ropes courses, horseback riding, and I'm sure many more wonderful outdoorsy activities. I am certain that Ted is in heaven.

Sam arrived home from Keystone Science School yesterday afternoon, tired and happy. It is nice to have his sweet little face in the house again. Mae has a field trip each day this week; today they are taking a bright yellow schoolbus to the Botanical Gardens in Denver. Never a dull moment.

And here I sit, taking a break from slicing corn, stirring tomatoes, kneading bread and fixing tea to pause and give thanks. It is a lovely day, indeed.

weekending

I'm not sure which of my favorite inspirational bloggers first coined this phrase (it may have been the lovely Soulemama) but I love the sound of it. Weekending has taken on a life of its own during this height of marathon training.

Friday night there must be pasta - there must! We don't eat much pasta; we are more rice and quinoa folk. But you can't beat pasta for the pre-run meal, so pasta it is! Getting to bed at a reasonable hour and wine-free are also key (thought not essential!)

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Saturday the alarm is set for 6am (it will move to 5:30 on the epic 20 miler). I usually wake just before 6 and avoid having to startle post-soccer Paul from his well-deserved slumber. I pack up my make-shift rest stop into the trunk of the mini-van and head to the trail.

Bobolink, or South Boulder Creek Trail, whichever you call it, has been my haven. It is so beautiful and so peaceful, and full of runners (which can be very annoying, or entertaining, depending on what loop of the run I am on). One loop and it's back to the car for a fill-up, re-sunscreen and iPod. Second lap and the bliss of stopping. finally. And stretching. Ahhh....

Home to shower off the grime, then soak the sore muscles. A green smoothie and a rest (not a nap!) on the couch for an hour and then the day goes on. There are errands to run, birthday parties to attend, dogs to be walked ... etc.

Sunday the alarm again is ready for 6am. This bike ride with Sylvie (or a spin class at the gym if she's traveling) really helps work the soreness from my legs and I always feel great after the ride. Another shower and perhaps a lie-down, and the preparation for the week ahead begins. Dinners are planned, laundry is tamed, lunches are pre-made, and schedules are coordinated.

And then the work week starts. For me, the work week means shorter runs, lots of yoga and some down time. To read. To write. To rest. I am so blessed and happy in this life I have been given.

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Besides being the first day of school, last Monday was also the first day of an e-course I'm taking, entitled "30 Day Vegan." Heather of beauty that moves offers an incredible workshop chock-ful of recipes, motivational posts, organization, tutorials, and breathtaking photography.

I have so enjoyed this week of preparing and enjoying our delicious vegan food. We've been vegan before but so missed the cheese. So far, with Cashew Nut Cream, I'm not missing the dairy! Most astonishing to me is my lack of cravings. My body feels fine-tuned, clean and healthy.

All in all, weekending has been a pleasure lately. How about your weekends?

Raising a Healthy Adopted Child: Physical Health

It's July! That means this is the month in my summer series to talk about the Physical Health of the adopted child. Physical Health has so many different aspects to it, so we'll limit our discussion to the common areas of Physical Health that we can control as parents.

One thing we can do, especially if we are parenting a child from another country, is to keep them in touch with their heritage through the Physical act of eating. Providing foods from a child's home country can be very beneficial. A major plus for Mae's Chinese foods is the opportunity it presents for getting together with other families who are either Chinese themselves or have adopted.

This link to Chinese food is as strong for Mae as bagels and lox are to the Jews (mmm....lox). While lo mein noodles and tofu make a delicious meal, it is often the snacks that make her smile the most. While I haven't been able to find the cracker-tasting, rawhide-looking treat in the picture to the left, she loves the "shrimp chips," moon cakes, and steamed egg, foods I doubt we would serve if it weren't for her.

We often talk about what a good eater she is (though in reality she is fairly picky). Because she will eat foods other than American fare all the time, she has pride in those foods and in herself as an adventurous eater. Luckily for our family, we all love Chinese restaurants, so at least there is one cuisine we can all enjoy together.

Join me here next week to discuss Sensory Processing, Speech Therapy, and what to expect "At the Doctor."

Does your adopted child have a favorite food that she has brought to your family? Have you continued to offer it to her? Do you agree that food should be a strong link to a child's culture?

Granola too!

My second batch of homemade yogurt is snuggled in the heating pad. I made up a batch of granola that is so good it makes me weep! Where has this combination been all my life?! The kids want it sweeter, so I added mini chips to it, but that just isn't doing it for me (or them). Next time I'll use honey or agave instead of brown rice syrup. So good. A snack of yogurt, berries and granola is completely rocking my world right now. YUM!

success!

Last night, I heated a half gallon of organic 1% milk to a boil, cooled it to 110 degrees, added 1/4 cup dry milk powder, 1 cup starter yogurt (I used my plain Greek yogurt) and set the 3 mason jars to rest overnight (I used the method my absolute favorite blogger of all time uses). This morning it had set up beautifully (The kids and I were so excited!) and I put it in the fridge to chill. Tonight we mixed in fruit (just blended frozen berries) and the kids added honey to his taste. They all liked it, but Ted really loved it and asked me to make some for snack this week (it's his week to bring snack), which is the ultimate compliment. Hooray hooray! It was so easy and it worked! Next time I'm going to do a full gallon rather than half a gallon, since they go through about a quart in one sitting.

Next up on my list: homemade bagels! They don't sound too hard, just a bit cumbersome with the boil then bake method. Still, I'll give it a try!

Food Goals

I'm reading The Locavore's Handbook by Leda Meredith and am feeling that annual spring excitement. Choosing seeds, planting and watering, frequenting the Farmer's Market (no CSA for us this year), the sun oven .... these last days of February have given us such a tease of spring weather that it's impossible not to day dream about the upcoming season! In the spirit of spring renewal and excitement, I'm going to try (sorry Yoda) to make our standard food choices more sustainable. This means trying (I'm so giving myself an out here if this bombs, can you tell?!) to make the following switches from store-bought to homemade or locally sourced:

• make my own yogurt with local milk, sweetening it with local honey and flavoring it with either farm or homemade jam (YES! I AM GOING TO CAN THIS SUMMER! I AM! FINALLY!)
• either learn how to cook bagels or buy from a local bagel store (Big Daddy's or Moe's are possibilities) that hopefully sources local wheat (available at my King's, so if I can figure out how to cook them myself, all the better!)
• Can tomatoes. Lots of them.
  
• Purchase locally grown, organic carrots, bell peppers, berries, apples and beans (my family's daily fare)
• Renew my commitment to Justin's Nut Butters and stop buying Nutella, even though their version doesn't' taste the same. Perhaps if my kids take a break from Nutella, they will eventually come to love it. They already love their peanut and almond butter, so we at least have a foot in the door.)

I love Spring, but I almost love February even more because of all the dreaming (and none of the do-ing) it allows. Happy almost Spring!

1917

This poster by the Committee of Public Safety in Pennsylvania borrowed its look from USFA posters by the artist Frederic G. Cooper, c.1917.

Source: Special Collections, National Agricultural Library

There are many, many more posters here. While it is miraculous and wonderful that we are not embroiled in a war of the magnitude of WWs I & II, why is it that if we asked Americans to cinch the waistbands of their food budget, we would surely hear protests? Elevating the importance of not wasting food is a need for the world, let alone America, but we don't push it in propaganda. Why? Why is it a luxury to have enough to eat instead of a duty to share the wealth?

I love that our CSA, Abbondanza, donates a portion of each crop to Community Food Share (rather than sell to restaurants for a profit) and if someone fails to pick up their share, that too is donated. How else can I (we) help? With this simple poster, I have all the tools I need. Here's to 1917 and the US Government's involvement. I love all the work Michele Obama is doing to encourage us all to grow our own, eat healthier and not waste. But how cool would it be if posters like this were on the highways instead of ads for geico or Toyota? Anyway. Spread the word!!!

miso soup

This soup is perfect for these days (weeks!) spent in the single digits. Mmm..

Bring to a boil 1 cup veggie broth. Add cubed tofu and sliced scallions. Add strips of nori or other seaweed til softened. Remove from heat.

Stir in 2 tsp miso paste (any kind will do - the lighter the miso the lighter the flavor).

Enjoy!

I didn't have any tofu or scallions, so mine is loaded with nori. Turns out my dog loves nori! Nori doesn't hold up as firmly as the other seaweeds like wacame, but if you have it around, it'll do fine.

Mmmm.

Ginger Tea

a little slice of heaven.

Take a thumb sized piece of fresh ginger.
Peel it and slice it thinly.
Add to 3 cups water and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat, simmer for 20 minutes.
Add honey or agave to taste.

Mmm.....

Ole

I am glad the week is over - it's been a douzy. Ole tore his ACL yesterday and is scheduled for TPLO surgery next Thursday. I spent the entire afternoon and early evening at the emergency vet - it was a huge drag. He was drugged out last night, tongue lolling out and all. I slept downstairs with him since he seemed to prefer the couch over the crate. We were sure he would pee or poop in his condition, but he didn't. Rockin' dog. I hadn't been able to get his meds into him this morning so stopped off at Safeway on the way home from picking up the kids. A pre-cooked, microwaveable pot roast later, and the meds are safely in his tummy. We also got hot dogs, so a tupperware of carnivorous delights await him for the next few weeks.
We are still discussing the surgery. He is 12 years old, after all. X-rays show no arthritis, which is amazing, and the vet thinks he has at least 2 years left in him if not more. The recovery is 2 months, but he would regain full mobility. Ugh. If only we had buckets of money - we wouldn't think twice about it. We love him so much - he is such a fantastic dog. But ...

In other news, I've started a new blog chronicling my local eats (re-vamping my enthusiasm from a few years ago). While it is 50% green, the other 50% is purely financial. With the exception of fruits, veggies, soybeans & GF baking mix for the kids, we are trying to only eat from our CSA. Visit, if you like!

Hanukkah begins a week from tonight. Sam's blanket is limping along. I am almost finished with green; blue will be a tough one because it's in the stockinette stitch rather than just the knit stitch, purple will be fast and half a white too. Basically, I'm home free when the blue is finished.

I've also menu-planned through the end of the year, doubling and freezing batches of squash soup, stews and chilis. Between those and roasted root veggies, our dinners will be nourishing and free! I've scaled back our Hanukkah plans this year so we'll have more time together as a family and less party-hopping. Although I love a good party as much as anyone, the boys have school and we'll need to keep it mellow this year. Our chavurah meets tomorrow and will celebrate Hanukkah a week early together. This is my favorite chavurah of the year, perhaps because of the delicious food (we are always in charge of the jelly donuts. Heh.)

I'm hoping the remainder of 2009 will not be too crazy, but relaxed and focused on the family. And I still need to get the holiday letter written and a picture taken. Hmm. Too bad I deleted all the pictures from iPhoto - it will take forever to sift through all the random unnamed jpegs. *sigh*

GIving Thanks

Oh, the riches I have! I am feeling abundantly blessed and lucky tonight. What gorgeous weather we had today! We played basketball and soccer outside all day (when I wasn't inside basting something or other). What great kids I have! They spent much of yesterday creating placements for our guests, felting hearts, butterflies and turkeys (and a few snowmen) to decorate the house. What a great husband I have! He let me sleep in til 8am this morning! Since I was up with Ted most of the night (he had gluten and dairy yesterday with no enzymes), it felt heavenly!

And the food! So fresh, so delicious ... it's so special when a meal is prepared only once a year and enjoyed for all its uniqueness. The abundance of food in our lives makes me alternatively guilty and thrilled. Our CSA share (that the family picked up without me last week) yielded about 50% of our Thanksgiving meal. Were it not for the requisite Tofurkey (a tradition) and cornbread stuffing, it'd be almost 100%!

Tofurkey (from Oregon)
Pepperidge Farm Cornbread Stuffing (from Connecticut)
Lentil & Golden Squash Pot Pie (all but lentils from the CSA)
Glazed Turnips & Apples (all CSA)
Delicata Squash Soup (all CSA)
Hot Chai (Boulder Bahkti Chai, homemade soymilk)
Pumpkin Pie (all but the crust from CSA & local ingredients)
Red Wine & Beer (local Boulder Beer, Australian Merlot)

Our friends the Seigals brought the salad and fruit, as well as some Thanksgiving Blend coffee! Mmm!! It was a lovely day; the house is cleaned up and the kids in bed. And tomorrow is only Day 2 of the 4 day weekend! Ahh...

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Dark Days Challenge has begun!

It's November 15, which means the start of the winter challenge this year. This is our 3rd year of participating. The first year was fantastic - I was really on the ball. Last year I managed to prepare about 60% of our food from our CSA and stores. I am motivated again this year, since I am in the groove now and have been preparing. We've been feasting on CSA beans, greens & veggies for a few months now.

So, on to our very first meal! It was a simple one, and perfect for our snowy weather today: chili. I My exemptions are Italian seasoning and 1 can of tomato paste. The local CSA ingredients in this yummy chili are: chickpeas, red beans, yellow onion, garlic, (homemade!) veggie stock, and 2 jalapenos (from our hatch chilis). It's bubbling away in the crockpot right now, blending with the smells of more local roasted potatoes, beets & garlic. We devoured the potatoes and garlic at lunch but will enjoy the roasted beets with some sauteed CSA tut soi alongside our chili. Mmm...

back to our lovely Indian summer

This morning started out coolish but reached 72 this afternoon. I love Colorado. A quick recap for the non-Facebook peeps out there. On Wednesday of last week, I took Ted in to the doctor to take a look at the blisters on his hands. They suspected a virus, so not much to do about it but take Tylenol if it's a real pain. By Thursday both Ted and I weren't feeling very good. Ted developed a serious cold and I came down with, ultimately, Strep. I've never had strep before. I had a terrible sore throat, headache, body aches and swollen glands. It went on and on. By Monday, Paul convinced me to go in. It was either H1N1 or Strep. Happily, it was Strep! It's Day 1 on antibiotics and I feel sooo much better. Ahhh...

Now that I'm back up to snuff, I have to get going on food. Luckily I cooked up quite a collection of dinner-esque items last week, enough to hold us through the weekend. On Mondays I always try to prep a crock pot meal and that worked well. Now to turn the Kuri squash in a mashed potato-y concoction, the sugar pie pumpkin into black bean & pumpkin soup and the potatoes into our favorite roasted chunks of deliciousness. Oh yes. It will be a good end to the week.
Ole, btw, is a great compost bin. We had to get rid of ours while the basement was being fixed. We wondered, last season, if raccoons or some other creatures were helping themselves to dinner. Nope - it was Ole! He loves squash! Silly dog.

Roasting Season

We've had 3 snows already - all before Halloween! This one is a blizzard, closing down the schools, mail, work etc. The kids had fun playing in the snow all morning, drinking hot cocoa, watching Madagascar, playing Legos and doing some schoolwork. I've been busy roasting! The Dark Days Challenge officially starts on November 15, but we've been eating mostly local for a few months now. Lunch today included roasted potatoes & garlic with sauteed chard and sliced beets, all from the CSA last week. I plan to serve similar simple, yet absolutely bursting with flavor, meals all winter. For dinner tonight I roasted a kuri squash and an onion for a squash-apple soup (my MIL's recipe) that we all love. It's going to be a delicious day, with scrumptious appetizers! I may not enjoy snow, but I do appreciate the siren's call of the kitchen when the days are blustery. Stay warm, friends!

Summer

We are squeezing the last few drops out of summer around here. Our CSA 5 pounds of peaches were already getting overripe - even with Ted the peach lover in the house. So I baked a peach crisp - sooo delicious. The epitome of late summer, I think.

Paul helped turn our humongous CSA sweet cabbage into cole slaw. Delicious, crunchy and perfect as an accompaniment to grilled salmon.

Happy last few days of summer.

yum

What do you do with a dozen limp and way past their prime clementines? Make a clementine cake! Mmm.
The kids spent the morning and the late afternoon sledding. It was a gorgeous sunny day. In between, they played on the computer and generally ran amuck. Good times.

weekend of sun and chores

Nothing like a beautiful day to get the windows wide open and the mundane chores done in a flash. This was an incredibly gorgeous weekend. Saturday Ted played his 1st soccer game of the season in 70 degree sunny weather. We had a date night that night (went to the symphony and had dinner at a local pub, Mountain Sun .... all courtesy of Horizons' auction last week.) I spent most of today cooking (when we weren't d-r-a-g-g-i-n-g the kids outside to get some fresh air!) They were really into their Star Wars Lego game that they had concocted in the family room and they weren't budging! Geesh! But we got them out for a few hours, despite MANY complaints, so we feel victorious. Let me name my culinary successes today, because it was a good day!

• 3 batches of GF pancakes this morning, gobbled up by the mob almost instantly
• my 1st successful loaf of GF sandwich bread ... finally! YUM! Recipe here.
• a batch of GF chocolate chip cookies ... not as great but ok. I miss spelt and barley. Recipe here.
• my first ever whole chicken ... baked in the crockpot! Recipe here. It cooked completely through in 3 hours on high (it was a small roaster, and it even had the farmer's name on it! I am trusting very strongly that this free-range chicken had a happy life!!!)
• tuna steaks on the grill. Paul had to turn it on for me, but I did the marinating, basting and grilling. This is the 2nd time we have used this marinade and it's really yummy. Next time, I'm going to sub ginger for the garlic. The original is the juice of 2 limes, 2 garlic cloves and some marjoram. But I didn't have that so I used rosemary. Mmmm.

I am still recovering from the trauma of carving the chicken (Rosa is going to visit in May and while planning her visit she talked me through the carving, including saving the bones for stock and the leftover juices for gravy.) but I think I will live. Not so, poor chicken. I am on Day 8 of the diet and while I'm officially "done," I'm still trying to do the basic idea of eating every 2-3 hours. Lean protein and lots of veggies are high on the charts. Tomorrow I'm going to do a batch of black beans and rice to get me through the week (two 1/2c servings of that per day are recommended). I lost a total of 4 pounds in 6 days and while it may not seem like much, the difference in my stomach alone is THRILLING. I plan to be as diligent as possible and I bet by the summer, I might actually be ok in a bathing suit! I was happy the summers of 2005 & 2006, but then got out of control again.

Tomorrow begins the week of Spring Break. Ted and I are going to Breckenridge on Thursday night to ski with Wendy & Alex. So we have most of the week to laze around and maybe do some fun things like a pool or zoo. Maybe a movie. But the weather is so amazing! I hope it lasts for a few more days. Now that cooking is done, I need to get going on folding! It was really nice to hang the sheets and blankets out on the line today. They smelled sooooo good! Hooray for Spring!

Meals for the Week

This was a fun-filled weekend and it's not over yet! Saturday we went to the Science museum to see the new exhibit about weather. Sam LOVED it, especially the little room where you're INSIDE the tornado. And where you can create your own volcano, based on the variables of goo and gas. Very fun. 

Then today I took Ted and Mae, with Alex and Adam, to Sunday school while Wendy went on a bike ride (after she had already done an early morning swim. Triathletes are NUTS I tell you.). After Sunday school she took Ted's 7 year pictures and then took him swimming with her boys. This made for a refreshingly quiet afternoon. It doesn't matter which two children are together; two children are so much quieter than three. Period. 

I went through my freezer stash (on paper this year, so I didn't have to literally fall into the freezer to see what was in there) and have this week's meals at the ready. I'm saving most of the greens (we are very greens-heavy this year) for when the meals run out and I cook rice and beans alot...then we can just pop in some greens and it'll be fantabulous! I hope to post Ted's pics soon ... she took some truly gorgeous ones as always. 

Next week is a big one. It's testing week. Ted is still unsure whether he'll test. He can do it, but he's not sure he can. It could be that he'll end up giving it a shot and seeing how it goes. His party is at TKD on Saturday, so for his sake I hope whatever happens on Friday night is ok with him. 

Here are the meals. What a wonderful lazy week.

Monday: Tofu Mizuna StirFry

Tuesday: late night at TKD, leftovers

Wednesday: leftovers (Paul 6:30 soccer game)

Thursday: Moraccan Lentil Stew

Friday: testing, out for dinner

Saturday: post bday party = leftover GFDF pizza

Sunday: Baked Asian Tofu

Monday: Acorn Squash Soup

To bake: 2 batches of zucchini bread

remaining 6 squash from CSA, puree and freeze

Raisin Bran muffins (batter in freezer from late July ... hmm..)

Besides turning on the rice cooker and remembering to defrost, this should be an easy week! And a yummy one! 

Feeling pumped

There are many reasons to respect Jillian Michaels and her workout regimes. But one of the selling points for me is her strength. Look at those arms! Look at those abs! She is short, solid and not skinny (the girls on her video are practically emaciated, which is so annoying). She is real. If she had jeans and a shirt on, she'd look like any other fit, lean woman. I respect that.

Since we did our first Level 2 workout last night (killer. totally and completely hard) I did Level 1 again tonight as something strength-related to do, but not so hard. I think I'll try and do either Level 1 or a TKD class on off nights. It's helping my mood, for sure. Ole and I ran a short and fast 2 miles this morning. It got up to 72 today! Glorious. Good weather always helps, doesn't it? Let's hope at least the sunshine sticks around. Who said January has to be miserable? Hooray!

We had salmon tonight. I baked it for 30 minutes, with soy creamer and chives (CSA, frozen and waiting for some use). I got the recipe from Cooks.com because it was totally simple. Good too. Next time I want to try a lemony-ier version. 

For our next chicken recipe (*wheeze!* *gasp*) I might try my favorite meal from my childhood. Chutney chicken. Top a chicken breast with chutney and a few raisins, wrap in foil, and bake. Serve with wild rice (try not to let it run around the table though, or it'll be the subject of conversation for years to come) and veggies. I think we always had green beans but I'm on a broccoli and brussels sprouts kick. Wow. I wonder how my gut will react. We'll see!