Secrets of Mom

Food Storage Friday: Cranberry Upside-Down Breakfast Cake

2012-01-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe in the newspaper a couple weeks ago and made it for my family last weekend (adapted using food storage). It was delicious and helped me use some of the very large bag of cranberries that I have in my freezer. (That's three experimental recipes in a row and they were all winners! Score!) My family made this disappear fast. We will definitely be making this again, but only for special occasions, because it is very sugary.

Cranberry Upside-Down Breakfast Cake
Food Storage Ingredients:
1/4 cup of chopped almonds
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Fresh Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, divided & softened
1 tsp orange rind
5 Tbsp fresh orange juice
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk (I used rice milk with vinegar.)
1 & 1/2 cup fresh cranberries (or frozen and defrosted)
1 heaping Tbsp ground flax seed

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat a 9" square or round pan with cooking spray and dust with flour. 2. In a small bowl combine almonds, cranberries, and orange rind. 3. In a small saucepan combine three Tablespoons orange juice, two Tablespoons butter, brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir constantly for three minutes and pour into pan. Cover with cranberry mixture. 3. Whisk flours, salt, flax seed and baking soda in a medium bowl. 4.In a large bowl, beat white sugar and remaining butter until creamy. Add vanilla, egg and flour mixture. Spoon over cranberries. 5. Bake for 40 minutes or until passes toothpick test. Cool in pan for 5 minutes while making glaze. 6. Mix remaining orange juice and powdered sugar until smooth. Pour over inverted cake.

Notes: I was surprised that it turned out looking as well as it did, because after I inverted it about 90% of the sugary coating was stuck to the bottom of the pan. Wha? I used a non-stick silicone pan and sprayed and flour it. So I scraped the sugary mess out of the pan with a fork and then arranged it back on the cake. Most of the cranberries had migrated into the cake, but the nuts were left behind in the pan with the sugar. Now that won't do. That orange glaze really helped with the appearance of the cake. So just make sure that you HEAVILY grease your pan.

Pantry Challenge Week 4

2012-01-24T09:39:00.000-08:00

I meant to put this up yesterday, but family and friends come before blogging.
Grocery spending last week:

Whole wheat hamburger buns- $2.45

2 cans pinto beans- $1.08

2 gallons milk- $4.25

package of tortillas- $1

package of pretzels- 50 cents (after coupon)

package of Yoplait- free (after coupon)

can of Carnation Instant Breakfast- $3.70 (after coupon)

Bountiful Basket (apples, bananas, pears, oranges, cauliflower, broccoli, kiwis, pomegranates, lettuce, corn on the cob) + bread pack that I split with my mom- $12

Total- $26.36 after tax
Total for the month so far- $79.36

Now I have to admit that I cheated. My family was visiting from out of town and we took them to lunch. Lunch for 5 adults and 2 children came to $59. Not really compatible with the $100 challenge. But I'm not going to be a bad hostess just because I'm doing some crazy pantry challenge. And I did make them eat food storage experiments for their other meals, which actually turned out pretty good. And I never got around to making the BBQ beans because I had too many other leftovers.

Menu Plan:
Breakfast
oatmeal
cereal
yogurt
fruit
smoothies

Lunch
leftovers
Ramen noodles (my kids love them)
shells and cheese
sandwiches

Dinner
BBQ beans
leftovers
Whole Grain Vegetable Lasagna*
Mac & Cheese with Cauliflower
Cream of Vegetable Chowder If you want to add chicken, be my guest.
Taco Salad

Sides & Snacks
Corn on the Cob
salad
roasted vegetables
fresh fruit
homemade bread and jam

*If you live in the Utah county area there is a Stouffer's thrift store near the plant in Springville, UT. Anything that isn't perfect goes to the thrift store. This could mean that they messed up the product, but most often it means that the package is under or overweight. Recently when my mom was there she found frozen Whole Grain Vegetable Lasagnas for $1.99 each, so she brought a few down when she came to visit. They tasted great. Hope that helps someone who is trying to get dinner on the table for less without spending their lives in the kitchen. :)

Food Storage Friday: Reuben Pinto Burgers

2012-01-20T10:00:00.000-08:00

I found this recipe in the newspaper last Sunday. My burgers don't look as pretty, but they were very tasty, and really that's all that matters. (Ok, they are healthier than a standard burger, and I suppose that matters for something too.) If you are not fan of sauerkraut, you can easily change the toppings to make it whatever burger tickles your fancy.

Reuben Pinto Burgers
Food Storage Ingredients:
2 cans (15.5 oz) pinto beans, liquid drained, 1 can mashed with a fork
1 can (14.5) sauerkraut, drained
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup light mayonaise or Miracle Whip
2 Tablespoons of chili sauce

Fresh Ingredients:
1 & 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6 thin slices Swiss cheese
6 whole wheat hamburger buns

1. Mix beans, bread crumbs, eggs, pepper, and garlic in a bowl. Form into six patties (Roughly 4"). 2.Mix chili sauce and mayo, set aside. 3. Place a slice of cheese on each half bun. Toast at 300 degrees F for about 5 minutes. 4. While toasting buns, heat oil in a large skillet. 5. Cook patties in hot oil until crisp on both sides (8-10 minutes total). 6. Assemble burgers with sauce on each side of bun and sauerkraut on top of patty.

Notes: The recipe I read said to drain and reserve liquid from canned beans, then add it to patty mixture for moisture. I found them to be plenty moist without it. I'll have to try this recipe with cooked dry pinto beans and with various burger toppings. I made my bread crumbs by toasting a couple of smashed freezer burnt Kaiser rolls that I found buried in my freezer and added a dash of Kirkland's organic no-salt seasoning. I highly recommend. I also used Monterrey Jack instead of Swiss, because that is what I had in my fridge. Still good.

Strike for SOPA

2012-01-18T06:00:00.000-08:00

I was going to write something else for today, but I'm going to join the strike against the SOPA and PIPA bills instead. This is a pretty big deal, and pretty big bogus deal at that. We can't allow the government to pass this legislation. If you want to write your senator, you can go to this handy site, which can tell you who your senator is and help you submit a letter to him.

Pantry Challenge Week 3

2012-01-17T09:01:00.000-08:00

Did you have a great holiday with your kids? We did. House cleaning and blogging didn't happen, but we had fun. So Heather had dreams of books I was going to review and various prizes I was going to give away this month, but I was forgetting 'I am a mother of three now'. I never have as much time as I am hoping for. And things always come up. Anywho, moving forward.
Here was my grocery spending breakdown for last week:

Cilantro, a pepper and green onions- $1.90
milk- $2.89
greek yogurt- $3.59 ( I used it to make tzatziki sauce out of my cucumber. That recipe was a failure.)
bread- $2.34
ice cream- $2 (It was a prize on the chore chart.)

So that's roughly $13.

No complaints from my family yet on using the things that we have. Of course the kids just finished the last of the chicken nuggets and I'm not buying anymore before February. We'll see how that goes. I still have a fair amount of fresh produce including a squash that's been in my fridge since before Christmas, so I'm trying to use up those things.

Here's the meal plan for this week:

Breakfast:

Upside Down Cranberry Cake- If it turns out well I'll put it up here.

cereal

oatmeal

Lunch:

leftovers

sandwiches

shells and cheese

stir-fried veggies with brown rice and plum sauce

Dinner:

Reuben Pinto Burgers- Another new recipe

Hippie Tacos (Vegetarian style)

BBQ Beans (Again, sans meat)

Squash Quesadillas with Apple Salsa- Looks good, going to give it a whirl

Cream of Mushroom soup- good ol' standby

Green eggs and Spam- The green eggs are made with pureed spinach. My daughter is a big fan of sauteed Spam; it tastes like thick bacon. I'm not so much.

Snacks

More tangerines, pears and apples

muffins

yogurt

Homemade bread (universe willing)

What fun things are you eating? And how are you trying to use what's in your pantry?

Some Days Are Hard and Some Days Your Kids Actually Listen

2012-01-13T10:17:00.000-08:00

One morning, a couple days ago, when my alarm went off I wished that I could be someone else. Someone without a splitting headache. Someone without an appointment for a root canal. Cindy Lou Who (4 & 1/2 months) had woke me up four times because she had an ear infection. Thing 2 (4 years) peed the bed twice and woke us up one other time wanting chocolate milk. (Which we didn't give him.) Of course, the three times he woke us up didn't coincide with the four times that she woke up. Life working out the way it does, the root canal cost a lot more than they said it would and my mouth didn't start feeling numb until 10 minutes after the procedure. Fantastic.
I was certain that considering Murphy's Law my children would bicker all day and be totally uncooperative. I have heard many times that the greatest influence that a woman can have on the world is through raising her own children to be good people. As I drove home from the endodontist I was considering if that is really true. I have a friend from nursing school who went on to be a nurse midwife. She has not had the opportunity to marry and have children and now volunteers in third world countries helping to deliver babies. Right now she's in the Philippines. (Did you know that in many countries girls are more likely to die in childbirth than go to school? On that topic, here is an awesome video if you have the time to watch it.) So I was thinking 'Am I really making more of a difference going through all that have been going through for my family, than if I were volunteering somewhere and saving lives all day every day?' ~~The past five months have easily been the hardest of my life. I have been hit by one crisis after another.~~
After I got home my husband looked at me in my pathetic state on the couch and said "If there was anyway that I could stay home from work today and help you out, I would." But he has a job to do and we need him to do it. I just prayed that I wouldn't snap and yell at my children. I was ready for the worst day ever.
But that's not what happened. Soon after I got home Cindy Lou Who woke up and gave me an enormous smile like she was so excited to see me. My children have a tendency to not want to clean up after themselves. Yes, I know that is typical for their age, but they tend to be a little worse than average. But miraculously they actually cooperated. They each cleaned their rooms for ten minutes without a fight. They each picked up all of their things that were in the living room. Thing 1 (6 years) let me brush her hair without running and hiding. Thing 2 didn't put his pants on backwards.They ate a balanced lunch and Thing 1 got to school on time. Cindy Lou Who let me set her down long enough so that I could vacuum the living room and load the dishwasher while Thing 2 quietly played with Play Doh at the table. After school Thing 1 did her homework without threats. At dinner we had fresh veggies and dip and she tried one of every kind. Thing 2 wasn't so bold, but he ate a banana and the insides of his sandwich. It was like all of the lessons (battles) that I have been trying so hard lately to teach my kids were actually sinking in. I am actually making a difference. They may actually turn into healthy productive adults. Wahoo! Someday when my kids are older I may do my part to save the world, but I would not trade my time with them right now for anything.

$100 Challenge Week 2 and giveaway winner

2012-01-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

So spending $100 or less looks like it is going to be harder than I thought. Partly because I didn't do much grocery shopping for most of December because we were out of town so much. The end of week 1 and I've already spent almost half my budget. However, I now have enough produce to last me at least a couple weeks.
Here's the breakdown:

Bountiful Basket- $15 (cucumber, radishes, lettuce, spinach. avocados, broccoli, tomatoes, oranges, apples, bananas, pears, grapes, and blackberries)
Italian Pack- $8.50 (eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, garlic and fresh herbs. If you have never tried this you should, it makes my fridge and kitchen smell like heaven.)
38 lb case of tangerines- $15
BB handling fee- $1.50

But then I split the case of tangerines with two friends, so they each gave me back $5.
Produce total= $30

milk- $1.61 after coupon
olive oil- 2 (17 oz) bottles @ $1.99 each (How can I resist that price?)
Yoplait yogurts- 10 @ 40 cents each (When my children request healthy snacks I really try to make it work. And this is a challenge, not a punishment.)

Grocery total $40.03 (including tax)

I never made Taco Soup last week, because we had enough leftovers to cover meals without. Nor did I make wheatberry salsa, but both of will hit the menu again this week because I opened tortilla chips for the BBQ Wheat salad and I want to use those before they go stale. In fact BBQ Wheat salad is making a reappearance because I have all the ingredients for it and Thing 1 has decided that she really likes it (as do my husband and I). Also my children requested (and gobbled) scrambled eggs with mushrooms and toast. Fine. Little do they know that I made it with half dry powdered eggs. (I'm still getting them to eat healthy meals built around my food storage, so I'm happy.)

Breakfast and Lunch are more or less the same story as last week. Variety is not a priority for my children. I will also make muffins out of one of the instant mixes that is in the pantry.

Dinner

Eggplant Parmesean

Taco Soup

BBQ Wheat Salad

Fresh Pesto and Pasta (Pasta and Red Sauce for the kids)
Tomato Basil Soup with toasted rosemary sourdough bread
Green Eggs and Ham (Made with spinach)
leftovers

Snacks and Sides
fresh fruit
Wheatberry Salsa
roasted zucchini with caramelized tomatoes

fresh veggies and dip
green salad
yogurt

And the winner of I Dare You to Eat It by Liesa Card is April Evans. Congrats! Now you are on your way to tasty and realistic adventures with food storage. Stay tuned for another giveaway later this week.

Food Storage Friday: Baked Apple Pancakes

2012-01-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

I based this recipe off one that I found in a food storage cookbook a few years ago. I know I found it in a food storage cookbook, but that doesn't mean that I would consider a food storage recipe since the only food storage ingredients that it called for were white flour, white sugar and spices. That's not really using your food storage, those are just common baking ingredients. It's like saying that living off Cheetos and breadsticks makes you a vegetarian. All-purpose white wheat flour is not meant for long term storage, it loses it's nutritional value too quickly. This dish is however tasty, and I changed the recipe so that it does actually incorporate food storage ingredients by substituting oat flour. I make my own oat flour by throwing oats in the blender for 10 seconds. Oats have a significantly longer shelf life than white flour. I make this whenever I have apples that have gone a little soft, but haven't gone bad yet. It is a favorite of Thing 1's. As I am currently doing the pantry challenge I used powdered eggs from my food storage. This time I used almond milk, but I have also made this with reconstituted powdered milk and it has worked just fine.

Baked Apple Pancake
Food Storage Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
dash nutmeg
1 cup oat flour
1 teaspoon salt
powdered sugar (optional)
maple syrup (optional)
1 heaping tablespoon ground flax seed (optional)

Fresh Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons butter
2 apples, cored and diced
1 cup milk
6 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 2. In a frying pan saute diced apples with butter, cinnamon and sugar until tender. Transfer to a sprayed cooking pan. 3. In a blender whip eggs, flour, milk, salt, nutmeg and flax seed. Pour over cooked apples. 4. Bake for 16-18 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar or top with syrup. Serves 6 and reheats well.

Preparedness Wednesday: December in Review

2012-01-04T10:00:00.000-08:00

Oops! Took the kids to the pediatrician this morning and had this set to publish automatically before I finished it.

For those of you just tuning in, every week of 2011 I tried to do something to get my house in order (fix things, get out of debt, etc.) and purchase something to add to my emergency supply. If you are interested in following deals as I find them I post them on my public facebook profile.

Doing:

Installed a coat hook rack in my entry way. *Hopefully* this will make finding coats and getting out the door a little easier.
Did a little research on supplies that are good to have in an emergency. Besides food, water, and toilet paper, a few suggestions that I repeatedly saw included: iodine water tablets, tarps, solar blankets and a shovel. I also bought some heavy duty plastic pins to put these items into.
Bought several plastic bins to put toys in. At some point I will have enough time and motivation to organize all of the toys, so they will be in these bins and not on the floor. Someday...

Emergency Preparedness:

Pompeian Olive Oil- $3.99 for 48 oz @ Albertson's
case of Charmin from Amazon- 21 cents per roll
more peanut butter from Amazon- I can't remember how much it cost, but when I signed up for it to come automatically it was a great deal.
brown rice- $13 for 20 lbs @ Costco
#10 can of freeze-dried strawberries- $8.79 @ Costco

$100 Challenge and Menu Week 1

2012-01-02T10:45:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!
So it's a new year and one of my resolutions is to organize (and maintain) my pantry. In order to do this I need to clean it out, which from what I've read is something that you should do once a year anyway. So I'm going to try to live off my pantry this month and to make it slightly more realistic I'm giving myself a budget of $100 for groceries (food storage meals go down easier with some fresh produce). So this month I'll give you a rundown of how much I'm spending and what we're eating. Hopefully it will give you some ideas to use your own food storage and save some money. And there will be prizes!
So here's what we're eating this week. (I have to have multiple meals sometimes because my husband is a vegetarian and I have my own dietary restrictions.) On weekends and holidays, I tend to make big batches of breakfast foods like waffles and use the leftovers throughout the next week. This week I'm also focusing on using a lot produce that's in my fridge.

Breakfast
Pumpkin Waffles
Baked Apple Pancakes
granola
cold cereal
oatmeal

Lunch
sandwiches
leftovers
mac and cheese (for the kids)

Dinner
BBQ Chicken and Wheat Salad (without the chicken)
Stir-fried Green Beans & Brown Rice and Tropical Sweet Potato Casserole
Hawaiian Haystacks
Red Pepper Pesto and Pasta
Taco Soup (Vegetarian style)
leftovers

Snacks
Wheatberry Salsa and chips
fresh apples
canned peaches
smoothies
crackers and cheese

Now for this weeks giveaway: I'm going to give away a copy of I Dare You To Eat It by Liesa Card. This is my favorite food storage book. If you have no idea where to start with your food storage, this book is a great starting place. It's full of tips and ideas that make using your food storage feasible. Here's what you have to do to enter:

Be a follower of Secrets of Mom (required) and comment on this post.
Join the $100 Challenge and comment.
Share your favorite food storage recipe.
Share this post on twitter.

The winner will be chosen using a random number generator. The giveaway ends at midnight on Sunday January 8, 2012. The winner will be announced Monday morning. Keep checking for more recipes and giveaways throughout the month.

December Updates

2011-12-28T15:30:00.000-08:00

Great news!

I passed the CPN exam! I am now a Certified Pediatric Nurse and I get to put extra letters after my name. Wahoo!
Cindy Lou Who's reflux is getting better. She's still on more than $500 worth of medication each month and I still can not have tomatoes or onions, but I can have small amounts of cranberries, chocolate, citrus, beans and dairy. Really, this is huge people.
We had a great Christmas, including some time with my brother-in-law who just came home from the Philippines.

With these big things behind us I'm ready to conquer the world. Or maybe just tackle my house. ~~It needs serious work.~~ And perhaps get around to fixing my blog, that is getting my computer programming husband to fix my blog. Starting the first of the year I'm going to try something new: The $100 Challenge. For the month of January I plan on spending no more than $100 on groceries for my family of five. It's basically a pantry challenge, but gives me some leway to buy milk and fresh produce. I'll share my menus and food storage ideas here and I'll find prizes for some of those who want to join me in my endeavors to rotate my pantry items and save some money. Who is with me?

Easy Dairy-Free Ice Cream

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

Ice cream is a big comfort food for me, and unfortunately with baby's reflux I can't have it. My husband who loves me found a recipe for dairy free ice cream on the internet. Then I improved it. I have to say this stuff is pretty darn good. It doesn't give you the "full" feeling that a bowl of ice cream and chocolate give you, but it sure tastes like ice cream, which is good enough for me. It is also significantly better for you than regular ice cream, but you do have to plan for it at least a few hours ahead of time.

Dairy-Free Banana Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 banana
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
cashews (optional)
caramel (optional)

1. Select a ripe, but firm banana. Peel it and break into thirds. 2. Freeze chunks until solid (at least three hours). 3. Puree bananas and vanilla until creamy. You need a pretty good blender for this. Usually I blend them into a chunky mush and then I have to scrape the size of the blender to get the much all back and the bottom and then I blend again until I get the desired product. 4. Top with caramel and cashew if desired. (Honestly you can top it with anything that you please, but those are just some of the few things that don't bother and infant with reflux, so I take it.) Makes one serving

I'm taking a break for the next few weeks. We've got family stuff going on, Christmas, birthdays and I studying to become a Certified Pediatric Nurse. But rest assured that I have many more things to say.

Food Storage Friday: Raspberry and Spinach Pasta Salad

2011-12-09T10:00:00.000-08:00

I created this recipe with my extremely limiting dietary restrictions in mind using things I happened to have in my fridge and pantry. So if you aren't married to a vegetarian and you aren't breast-feeding an infant with moderately severe reflux, feel free to add some grilled chicken strips, mandarin oranges, feta cheese and/or chopped kiwi fruits. ~~I actually can have kiwi, I'm just out.~~ You can serve it as a side (I had mine with grilled fish) or eat it as a light meal. Whatever floats your boat.

Raspberry and Spinach Pasta Salad
Food Storage Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons toasted almonds
2 cups cooked pasta
2 teaspoons of olive oil
1/4 cup raspberry vinaigrette dressing (I used Private Selections from Smith's because it doesn't use soybean oil.)

Fresh Ingredients:
handful of fresh raspberries, torn in half
1 Bartlett pear, chopped
1 large handful of baby spinach

1. Coat cooked pasta with olive oil. 2. Toss all ingredients together.

I love this because a) I'm allowed to eat it, b) it's healthy, c) it's delicious and satisfying and d) it's super quick and easy to make. We have a winner! If I were in a situation where I was using only my food storage I could use reconstituted dried raspberries and canned pears and probably just forgo the spinach. The fresh is better, but I could make do without.

Preparedness Wednesday: November in Review

2011-12-07T10:00:00.000-08:00

October was a crap shoot: newborn with pretty bad reflux, 4 surgeries, a root canal, Halloween, ring-around-the-rosie with the insurance company over my baby's medication and a few more curve balls that life had for me, meant that I didn't accomplish any of my preparedness goals. But I did better in November.

Doing:

Bought a second shoe rack (this one for my closet), so the area by the backdoor could feasibly be a little more organized
Attended a meeting where mom's shared ideas about how they manage to keep their houses clean and organized.
Paid off a chunk of my husband's student loan with my credit card, because the interest rate is significantly better. (Sad, huh?)
Had a gate installed so my neighbors dog won't be able to poop in my backyard anymore. Yay!

Food Storage:

Dole pineapple tidbits- 50 cents per can @ Albertson's
Campbell's cream of mushroom soup- 39 cents per can @ Smith's
Swanson's vegetable broth- 39 cents each @ Smith's
Natural canned black olives- $8.97 for 8 pack @ Costco (We recently discovered that not only are these cheaper than your average black olive, they also taste much, much better.)
S&W canned black beans- 49 cents each @ Smith's
Progresso Vegetable soup- 75 cents each @ Albertson's
Cold milled flax seed- $8 @ Costco, shelf life is not as long as whole flax seed, but it's still a couple years and it sooo much more convenient.

Natural Solution for Clogged Tearducts in Infants

2011-12-05T10:00:00.000-08:00

When Thing 1 and Thing 2 were infants they had clogged tear ducts. They almost constantly produced these really thick tears that would dry and leave their eyes crusted together. I squeezed their tear ducts with a q-tip, just like my pediatrician showed me, but it didn't seem to help much. It finally resolved itself when they were each around 6 months old.
When I took Cindy Lou Who in for her first checkup, she was starting to develop the same problem. Now keep in mind, my pediatrician is very conservative in his practice. (A different pediatrician since we moved a couple years ago.) I know this from my experience with my kids and from working with him at the hospital. He's not one to throw around alternative therapies and often gets frustrated when his patients put so much faith in them. So when he told me the following I figured it was worth a shot. "Ok, I know this sounds crazy and when I worked in Detroit I never imagined that I would ever suggest this to a patient, but it works. If you squirt a little breast milk in their eye it takes care of the clogged tear duct. If that's too weird for you, here's a prescription for antibiotic drops."
And I'll admit it sounded a little weird. I know that breast milk has antibiotic properties, but would you really squirt dinner in your eye and expect it to clear up and infection? Generally not. However, when the thick tears and eye crustiness started getting worse I gave it a try. After a feeding I just squirt a bit of breast milk in each eye. It was pretty freaky looking to see her eyes coated with milk. But it didn't seem to bother her at all and she had no more issues with goopy eye secretions or crustiness after that point. I'm not going to guarantee that it will work for everyone, but it's a pretty harmless intervention and worked really well for my baby.

Food Storage Friday: Vegan Pumpkin Waffles

2011-11-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

Lately I haven't been doing much with my food storage because there is so much of it that I can't eat due to the fact it makes my breast-feeding baby scream and vomit. Because of my dietary restrictions, I'm also getting very tired of the things that I can eat. I've gotten to the point where I usually would rather go hungry than have oatmeal for breakfast again. Enter friend Julie, who has also done a stint as a vegetarian. She gave me a recipe for these great pumpkin waffles that are satisfying and were a hit with all family members. Now that's saying something when you're cooking for my crew. Thanks so much Julie! Of course I made a few changes so I was incorporating food storage and making them a little healthier. They're great with maple syrup or Apple Cider Sauce. Makes 12 waffles.

Vegan Pumpkin Waffles
Food Storage Ingredients:
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 15 oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Fresh Ingredients:
2 cups rice, soy or almond milk*
1 Tablespoon ground flax seed*
1 Tablespoon wheat germ*

1. Thoroughly mix wet ingredients and sugar in a bowl. 2. In a separate (large) bowl, mix dry ingredients. 3. Combine wet and dry ingredients. 4. Spray waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray and prepare according to waffle iron instructions.

Notes: Currently I can't have soy or dairy, so I made these with almond milk. I imagine that someday when my diet is less restricted and I'm in a pinch, I'll use the powdered milk from my food storage. From what I have read whole flax seed has a shelf life of three to five years, while ground flax seed can go rancid in as little as a week. I generally grind a cup at a time and store it in the fridge. Ground flax seed is great vegan source of Omega 3, 6, & 9 fatty acids as well as fiber. Wheat germ is a good source of fiber and B vitamins. Whenever I make waffles I add both wheat germ and ground flax seed for their health benefits and the fact that you can't taste them. Both these ingredients are optional, but I figure if I can get my family to willingly eat better, why not?

Reducing Stress at Thanksgiving

2011-11-18T10:00:00.000-08:00

First of all I have to say thank you to all of my readers who have stuck with me despite the fact that my posts have been very sporadic. Life has been crazy. Having three kids has thrown me for a loop and of course life had several curve balls on top of it. Blogging was pushed to the back burner, but I'm finally feeling a little more on top of things. This week I went to a RS meeting on getting organized and I thought I would share some of the things that I learned. (And then I can have all the info here and toss the handouts so they aren't cluttering my house.)
Here are some suggestions they gave to make the big Thanksgiving meal go a little smoother and more enjoyable.

Plan the meal in advance, divide up assignments between guests that are coming. Just because you are hosting the party doesn't mean that you need to stress over everything. Assign someone to bring snacks.
2 weeks ahead of time- order a turkey (hope you've done that already)
1 week before- clean out the fridge, use up any leftovers and mostly empty bottles of condiments
3-4 days ahead- if using a frozen turkey, put in the fridge to thaw (1 day for every 4-5 pounds)
2 days ahead- make pie dough and refrigerate, toast bread for stuffing (if you're not just using Stove Top, ;) ) and pecans for pie.
The day before- trim and peel vegetables, caramelize onions and make pies
The morning of- prepare potatoes and refrigerate, make sure everyone has breakfast so they're not irritable all day
3 & 1/2 hours before- bring turkey to room temperature, start roasting, make glaze
2 hours before- cook side dishes, put egg beaters & a bowl in the fridge so they can fluff up whipping cream faster
30 minutes before- while turkey and potatoes are cooling, cook stuffing and make gravy
After the meal- get everyone involved in putting away and cleaning up.

I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

Breast Feeding vs. Infant Formula

2011-10-24T10:00:00.000-07:00

Whether you choose to breast-feed your infant or not, is a very personal decision. When I first started working on a Postpartum unit the lactation specialist gave me a list of 101 reasons why women should breast-feed. Most of them were completely ridiculous and several of them were listed two or three times. You have to choose what will work for you, your baby and your situation. I don't believe that you should let anyone try to convince you to do anything that you're not comfortable with or won't work for you and your infant. I'm not writing this post with the intent to make anyone feel guilty about their decision, but to go over some the facts about each side of the issue.

The Case for Breast Feeding

Breast milk is perfectly designed for your infant at each stage of his/her development.
Breast milk is much cheaper than the alternative. (I won't say that it's free, because it requires way to much work to qualify as such.)
Breast feeding helps the mother's body to heal. It makes her uterus reach its pre-pregnancy condition more quickly.
Breast feeding decreases a woman's risk of breast, cervical and ovarian cancer. I mention this one because I've heard it numerous times and I feel that this fact is very misleading. Research shows that if a woman breast-feeds for 14 years of her life, it decreases her risk of cancer by 20%. So if iI have 7 kids and breast-feed them for 2 years each I will decrease my risk of cancer of my reproductive organs by 20%?! That doesn't seem like really good motivation for me.
Breast feeding burns calories! During pregnancy our bodies are designed to store fat, so that we can feed a baby. What better way to get rid of those extra pounds?
Breast feeding promotes bonding between mother and infant.
Breast feeding provides infants with immunity against illnesses. It provides immunity against diseases that the infant is too young to be safely vaccinated for and for other diseases that the mother has immunity against where there are no vaccines available.
Breast-feeding is environmentally friendly. Little or no packaging or containers required.
Breast-feeding decreases a child's risk for allergies and auto-immune diseases.
Breast-feeding makes for overall healthier children. I breast-fed Thing 1 & Thing 2 and the first time that I had to take either of them to a doctor for anything beyond a well-child check was when Thing 2 needed stitches at age 2.
Infant formula just does not taste or smell that good. Yes, I have tasted it. I make it a point of tasting anything I force my patients to take (within reason).
Breast-milk has antibiotic properties.
Breast-feeding means fewer bottles to wash. (Unless you work and pump. Then you have to wash your bottles and your pump parts. :S)

The Case for Infant Formula

Infant formula has improved dramatically since it was first developed.
It is very physically demanding to breast-feed an infant.
It is sometimes inconvenient to breast-feed an infant.
Breast-fed infants are often resistant to taking a bottle when mother is unavailable.
Breast-feeding is very time-consuming.
Society (and sometimes family and friends) are unsupportive of breast-feeding moms. They are often intolerant of breast-feeding in public, yet most establishments do not provide a clean place to breast-feed in private.
Some women for physical reasons can not breast-feed.
Some women can't breast feed for a multitude of other reasons.
No one is ever offended if you bottle-feed your infant in public.
Some infants don't take well to breast milk.
It's easier to wean infants off of formula versus breast milk. (Or so I hear.)
Formula fed infants are less likely to come down with jaundice.
Mothers of formula-fed infants have no additional dietary restrictions.

I think that more or less covers it. Can anyone think of any points that I left out? And you don't have to be strictly one or the other. You can breast feed sometimes and bottle feed at others. It's up to you. I choose to breast-feed because it makes my children healthier. There is something so adorable about watching my babies breast-feed. I love it. I love to snuggle with them every few hours and listen to their satisfied eating noises. And it saves me a lot of money. I breast-feed exclusively because I have not been able to convince any of my babies to take formula on any occasion after my milk came in. Ever. (The first day that I went back to work after having Thing 2, it took him 11&1/2 hours before he was desperate enough to even drink pumped breast milk from a bottle, let alone formula. He always was a stubborn child.) Breast-feeding Cindy Lou-Who, with all of my diet restrictions is one of the most difficult things I have ever done, ~~I have a hard time coping without food~~ but I do it because I love her and I feel breast milk is best for her. But after this experience I have new empathy for mothers who throw in the towel and switch to a bottle. I feel that breast is best, but there are plenty of good reasons not to breast-feed.

Food Storage Friday: Plum Sauce

2011-10-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

Several weeks ago we found ourselves with a surplus of plums from our Bountiful Basket. I remember when I was growing up my mom and grandmothers canned plums and I thought that they were gross. But I decided that there had to be something delicious that I could do with these. The answer: Asian Plum Sauce. Now this recipe itself calls for both fresh and food storage ingredients, but the real beauty of it is that once prepared it makes preparing quick and healthy meals with food storage a snap. It goes well over stir-fried vegetables and rice.

Asian Plum Sauce
Food Storage Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon canola oil
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch + 1 Tablespoon water

Fresh Ingredients:
3 lbs plums, pitted and chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 oz ginger
1 small onion, minced
2 cups water
1/4 cup lemon juice

1. Puree fresh ingredients. 2. Combine all ingredients except cornstarch and Tablespoon of water. 3. Bring to a boil and simmer 30 minutes. 4. Mix water and cornstarch, add to sauce and simmer until thickened. 5 Can in a water bath according to canner directions. (The recipe I found said 10 minutes, I felt more comfortable with 20.) Makes 4 pint jars

I served this over brown rice I had prepared in my crockpot and four cups of chopped and stir-fried mixed veggies. My husband added some stir-fried tofu to his, but you could just as easily stir-fry some chicken or pork and add that.

Varicose Vein Surgery

2011-10-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

When I was nineteen I started developing varicose veins. It's genetic. I started wearing support stocking religiously, but let's face it, I picked the wrong profession if I wanted to protect my legs and veins. And having three babies didn't help either. When I had Thing 1, I was told that I needed to wait until I was done having children before I did anything about fixing them. Technology has advanced since then. (Which is good because after my pregnancies and standing on my feet for so many years not only do my legs look terrible they hurt a lot too. Lots of burning, aching and cramping.) The first time I saw my OB he told me that I needed surgery on my legs and there wasn't really another answer. As soon as I could get in (after my pregnancy) I went to see a vascular surgeon. He said I that I have venous reflux disease and it's actually better to take care of it sooner versus later. What has been happening is that the valves in some of my veins aren't working effectively, which causes the blood to back up and some of the smaller veins to swell to the point that they are completely ineffective ~~and not to mention ghastly looking~~. The longer I let it go the more damage will occur to the small veins.
The solution is the VNUS close system. The surgeon inserts a catheter into the ineffective veins and irradiates them and as he pulls the catheter out they seal shut. That's procedure #1. On the second day he fixes the smaller swollen veins that possibly can be fixed and cuts out the others. They don't use general anesthesia, so there is less risk (and cost) to the patient. Just a Valium, a Keflex, a Percocet and some Lidocaine. (Although I still fell asleep half way through each surgery.) Each procedure takes less than an hour and has a pretty short recovery time overall. (It used to be that surgical intervention involved 'vein stripping', where the vein is literally removed through incisions in the groin and knee areas. It required general anesthesia and involved a long and painful recovery. Currently there are other options besides the VNUS procedure, but this is the one my surgeon prefers because it has the best outcomes.)
So that's what I was doing Tuesday on my husband's lunch break. When I laid down on the table the tech said "Now there is proof positive that nurses don't just sit on their butts." (That's right!) I felt very loopy for the rest of each day, but I was functioning fairly well by Thursday. ~~Ok, ok my house was sliding even further down hill and I couldn't stand for very long, but my kids were happy and taken care of and that's what matters, right?~~ I have to say that now my leg feels sooo much better. No more cramping, aching or burning. The staples and stitches are annoying, but they'll be gone soon. I've known people who have had it done and the scarring is pretty minimal too. So we're going to do this party again tomorrow! That's not the way I planned it, but while I was on the table the nurse mentioned to the surgeon that he had a cancellation that they needed to fill and I said that I would take. Probably crazy after the week I just had, ~~honestly worst week in recent memory, and it had little to do with my surgery~~ but my surgeon is good, busy and really hard to get into. Not to mention if I do it now, versus next February when he has openings it would save me several thousand more dollars. Yup, tomorrow is good for me.

So here are some tips and lessons I learned from the experience:

If your varicose veins are causing you pain, you don't have to wait until you're done having kids to get relief. And you don't need an extended recovery time either.
Choose the surgeon that is hardest to get in to see and pray that someone cancels. He's the guy who knows what he's doing. I've heard scary stories of people who went to surgeons with less experience because they were easier to get into.
If your baby has reflux and you're having surgery, live it up and eat what you want. You have to pump and dump anyway, why not enjoy what you are eating for a couple days? (Although don't go to overboard, small amounts of those irritating foods will stay in your system for more than a few days.)
My surgeries on my leg didn't hurt nearly as much smashing my toe this weekend did. That's the real reason I walk with a limp.

Postpartum Depression

2011-10-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

Postpartum blues effects up to 85% of women in the period after they have given birth. Postpartum depression is a more severe condition that effects up to 25% of women. "Symptoms include sadness, fatigue, changes in sleeping and eating patterns, reduced libido, crying episodes, anxiety, and irritability." No kidding. Suddenly you have a bundle of joy who needs constant care and attention, doesn't let you sleep, siphons off your energy, doubles your load of housework and reduces the time that you have to do it. Not to mention it's a pretty big change for your body. Giving birth/having surgery and recovering from it is very physically demanding, and then there's the hormone imbalances too. And if you're like me there's a pretty big change in routine. I went from working full-time to spending my days sitting on the couch breast-feeding. Instead of seeing friends, coworkers and other people on a regular basis you stay inside because you don't want your baby to get sick and you feel like you are constantly breast-feeding. And you can kiss your personal time goodbye. No wonder women get depressed after having babies. This motherhood business is a challenging undertaking.
I share my story in the hopes that it will help someone else. The first couple weeks after I had my baby I was feeling pretty good. I was so excited not to be pregnant anymore. No more sciatic pain, no more gallbladder issues, my back injury resolved, my varicose veins were improved, and no more of all those other pregnancy inconveniences. Not to mention my baby is so sweet and beautiful and I am so excited to have her here. At about two weeks things became more difficult. My baby stopped sleeping through the night, my three year old was turning from mischievous to terror. I was dropping weight fast because while trying to meet the demands of three small children I just didn't have the time time to make myself three balanced meals a day. People were complimentary, and I would be polite, but think 'Are you crazy? It's not healthy to drop 26 pounds in two weeks.' I was discouraged with my inability to keep my house clean, and take care of the needs of my family. I thought 'What is wrong with me that I can't do this? Many of my friends have more kids, and they can still maintain a clean house.' I adore my children, but was struggling to cope with them. I craved peace, quiet and enough time to sit down and eat. At work at least there are federal laws that demand that I get a lunch break. One day I calculated I had about 700 calories in the entire day. (And normally I eat a lot more than that. In high school my husband nicknamed me "The Vortex" because I could eat him under the table at a time when he had regular swim practices.) That same day someone called to check on me and gave me some unrealistic advice. ~~Not very helpful.~~ It just made me feel frustrated and that people didn't understand what I was going through and had higher expectations of what I should be doing than I could possibly achieve right now. I started having thoughts of killing or hurting myself on a regular basis. I wasn't prepared to take any such actions, I just felt unstable. I thought about calling my doctor, but decided against it because I work with him on a fairly regular basis and I'd rather he didn't think that I was crazy. Besides that I was pretty certain that my problem could be better fixed by methods other than taking medication.
I talked to my husband and let him know that I had a problem. I told him I needed more help with the kids and the house and that I just needed to eat better. He made a point of helping me out more and regardless of the chaos going on made sure that we had a regular date night. I found that as long as I could get three healthy and satisfying meals a day and few good snacks, I was happy and doing ok, with or without sleep. I made some energy bars and some meals with leftovers that could be reheated quickly (and also supplemented my diet with a daily dose of ice cream). When my baby was almost four weeks old, I started taking my kids to a weekly play group again. (With work, it had been over a year since I had had time for that.) It felt so good to talk to other adults again. I discovered that my neighbor who I have always thought of as one of those "supermoms", had struggled with postpartum depression too.
Just when I thought I had this business under control my baby developed reflux. She was vomiting quite a bit and irritable. There's something about being covered in vomit on a daily basis that's just depressing. And there's something so frustrating about having your baby cry all the time and not being able to fix it. So I cut out all of the "naughty items" from my diet. There are more things that I can't eat, than items that I can. (This included my energy bars, because those had cranberries, peanut butter and chocolate chips.) Once I made these adjustments she was a significantly happier baby, throwing up less and sleeping more, but I felt like I was starving. I looked at my very well-stocked pantry and felt discouraged because I could eat almost nothing in it. The few things I can eat are pretty bland and tasteless. Once I woke up to feed her in the middle of the night and cried myself to sleep afterwards thinking about the mint brownie ice cream in the freezer that I couldn't eat. Sometimes I would think about slashing my wrists or hurting myself in other ways, but would step back and realize "I don't really want to do this. I'm just losing my mind because I'm hungry." ~~Not to mention that would just be an extra mess to clean up.~~
Last week I had my six week check-up and mentioned that I was having struggles with postpartum depression. My doctor made a few jokes and asked if I wanted a prescription. I don't need drugs. I need FOOD and CHOCOLATE. ~~Can you write me a prescription for a chef and a maid? Do you think you could clear that one with my insurance?~~ (Not that there is anything wrong with taking medication if that is what you need, but I'm pretty sure that I need calories, not pills.) Oh well, too bad for me. My baby is seven weeks old and my diet is still a huge stumbling block. It's hard to have energy and feel happy when getting balanced nutrition is so difficult, but I am pulling through. Now that we have her reflux under control I am able to eat a few more things. ~~I'm coming to terms with the fact that food is more about the nutrition it provides than actually having any taste.~~ I don't feel like hurting myself anymore and I know that I can get through this.

Here are some things I recommend trying if you are having struggles with postpartum depression:

Talk to someone, your spouse, a friend, your doctor, someone. Talking helps. (If you have no one else, shoot me an email. I'll listen.)
Get some sleep. Let your house go a little. It's ok. When your baby is sleeping, squeeze in a nap. Your physical and mental well-being are more important that the state of your house. (This one is hard for me. I have a hard time relaxing when my house is a mess.)
Eat a balanced diet with plenty of water. If you are breast-feeding, you should continue to take your prenatal vitamin, drink two liters of water and eat an extra 300 calories per day.
Don't try to be perfect. No one is. Supermoms are a fairy tale.
Get out of the house. I highly recommend joining a playgroup. In talking to other moms you will discover one of three things: 1. The other moms are going or have gone through the same thing. 2 Other children are more difficult than your own, consider yourself blessed. 3. Your children are more difficult than your average child, consider yourself strong.
Exercise. I know this is hard to find time for this and I personally don't do enough of it, but if even if you can put your baby in the stroller and go on a walk, it helps. (Although don't overdo it, you just had a baby.)
Try to do something for yourself on a weekly basis. ~~I would say daily, but if you're like me that just ain't happenin'.~~ Take a long bath, paint your toes, read a book, have a bowl of ice cream.
Remember that this condition is temporary. If it doesn't go away, get some professional help. There is no shame in getting help so you can take care of yourself and your family.

If you are having problems with postpartum depression, let someone know. You need help and support (not to mention food and sleep). Being a mom is hard work. Being a mom to multiple small children is even harder. Don't be discouraged if you can't do it all, because no one can. Find a friend, family member or neighbor who can listen, give you a break or even just do lunch with. It's amazing how therapeutic it is just to talk to someone else about the problem. For other resources go to www.depressionafterdelivery.com or www.postpartum.net

Preparedness Wednesday: September in Review

2011-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

For those of you just tuning in, every week I try to do something to get my house in order (fix things, get out of debt, etc) and purchase something to add to my emergency supply. If you want to follow my deals as I find them, I post them on my public facebook profile. For those of you who have been reading for awhile you know that I have an adorable new baby with reflux. The upshot is that I am no where near as productive as usual, so there was a lack of getting things in order this past month. It was all I could do to maintain things, and even that was questionable. But look how cute my baby is!

Doing

Paid off one of my husband's student loans- the big one with the higher interest rate. Hooray!

Emergency Preparedness/Food Storage:

Made and canned Asian plum sauce (recipe to follow in an upcoming post)
Canned homemade salsa
Canned apple pie filling
A case of instant oatmeal from Smith's- $18
#10 cans of powdered eggs @ Costco- $12.47 (Best price I've ever seen, I highly recommend you take advantage of this if you can.)
Vital Wheat Gluten @ Walmart- $6 for 15 oz (although I discovered you can get 27 oz for $8 at the local Bosch store, so if you live in St George, I recommend that.) Wheat gluten is a great shelf stable source of protein. Unopened it is good for 10 years.

St George- Local Businesses

2011-09-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

When you move somewhere new, it can be hard to know where to go for various goods and services. It certainly took me awhile to figure it out. (And I can't say I've got it all down yet.) Here are some of the local small businesses that I have had good experiences with. I am not being compensated in any way for endorsing them. They don't even know that I am endorsing them. Each of them have just done a good job at a fair price.

Bosch Kitchen Store- 188 North Bluff Street This place has the best prices on fresh organic bread. $1.84 per loaf and occasionally they have other deals going too, like buy 1 get 1 free. They have a good variety of breads at this price. My kids love the Cinnaburst bread, which makes great french toast. Cafe Atlas, the restaurant that they have inside the store, has some really yummy sandwiches and soups, but unfortunately they are only open until 4, or I swear I would go there a lot more often. The Bosch store is also the best local place to go for less than usual baking ingredients, like wheat gluten and a variety of grains. They also offer free cooking classes. Sometimes there are coupons for both the Bosch store and Cafe Atlas in the Valpak envelope, and Cafe Atlas has a deal on the Dixie Direct card.

Coyote Exchange- 140 N 400 W B3- A local second-hand clothes store with a really great selection. My husband's little sister recently got married and I had been looking for something to wear since before she was engaged. I had looked at every store locally, several online stores and a few dozen stores near where my family lives without any luck. Two days before the wedding I found a satin blouse in one of her wedding colors here for less than $8, and it looked brand new. I also found good deals on a few other items for myself and my husband. (They don't carry children's clothing.) They often have coupons in the newspaper, and have several in the local coupon calendar that comes in the mail. I am certain that I will be going back here.

Dixie Battery- 1250 W Sunset Blvd Ste C-18 This place is kind of hidden, and easy to miss, but they provide the best prices on car batteries. They were also knowledgeable and friendly guys.

The Tailor Maid- 435-674-7102 The summer before last my brother got married and I had a difficult time trying to find something to wear to his wedding and reception. A few days before we were to leave on our trip I found the perfect dress in a whole size to big. I called a few other seamstresses in the area first who said that taking it in would cost $60-$100 and take at least two weeks. That just was not going to work. Karen took in my dress in less than an hour and only charged me $10. I felt like I had found my fairy godmother. She has over 35 years of experience and did a fantastic job.

Terminator Pest Control- 435-862-9334 If you live in this area good pest control is a must. However I find that most local pest control places are ridiculously over-priced. And most that I talked to want to you sign a contract and have them come back every or every other month to spray again, charging around $90 each time. Ridiculous. John is nice, amiable guy, recommended by my neighbors and charges less than half of anyone else's best offer that I could find.

What I've been up to

2011-09-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

I swear I have a dozen blog posts bouncing around in my head, but not enough time to write them. ~~That is, time where I'm in the 'writing zone' plus had enough sleep plus have 2 hands free.~~ I've written a couple in a state of sleep deprivation and come back to proofread them and I'm not quite sure what I was trying to say, so we'll get back to those. So I'll just summarize what I've been doing in list form, because Heather is all about the lists. :)

Feeding the baby- She gained 3 pounds in 4 weeks. I spend a lot of time feeding the baby.
Chipotle Roasted Vegetable Quesadillas- I found this recipe on Skinny Bovine's Kitchen. I left out the corn, and added 2 tomatoes, 1& 1/2 medium carrots, one Hatch chile and doubled the chipotle (and left in the seeds cause I'm lazy). It was so yummy. Unfortunately baby couldn't handle the spiciness, and the two times I ate it as soon as I fed her she projectile vomited on me. But if you aren't breast-feeding I highly recommend it.
Started reading How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. In the introduction he says that he tries to run his pantry dry at least once a year. I thought, I need to do that. So I have been trying to plan all meals around what I have in my pantry. In addition to rotating things, it just makes it easier to organize when I give myself a little space. And in the next few months I know there will be many sales on non-perishable items and I need to make room.
In my efforts to clean out the pantry I made Peaches and Cream Oven French Toast, using canned peaches, evaporated milk and powdered eggs. It was pretty yummy and all members of my family ~~or at least those with teeth~~ ate some (Cue angelic chorus). However, I'm pretty sure that I could come up with a healthier version that is just as yummy.
Dealing with reflux- A new development in just the past week. I've determined that baby can't handle it when I eat anything remotely spicy, but it seemed like cutting that out wasn't enough. No, no- there is a huge list of things that I have to cut out. And since I have it has made a huge difference. She's happier and sleeps longer through the night. The problem is when I got out beans, dairy and many fruits and vegetables, it makes it hard to find anything to eat, let alone anything vegetarian. (And I had gone weeks without eating meat and was feeling fine!) I may need to go back to being a carnivore for baby's benefit for awhile.
Enjoying my oh-so-adorable children who are probably the only people whom I would tolerate such shenanigans from.