Yet Another Reason to Love Starbucks

Make It From Scratch: The Right Tools For The Job

Contrary to what it may appear, I do not actually have a love affair with cooking. In fact, at one point it was something I downright detested. Then, something happened--I got blessed with an abundance of high-quality kitchen tools from The Pampered Chef, first at a bridal shower, and then through hard work as a consultant for that company for two years. Oh, what a difference good kitchen tools made! While I can't say that cooking became a favourite hobby of mine or anything, I certainly enjoy eating tasty food, and suddenly I found that I had the ability to make said tasty food in a fraction of the time it took before. Cooking was no longer the burden it had been. In fact, dare I say that I actually enjoyed the creativity of the process?

Now that I cook everything from scratch, I have found that the right tools still make all the difference. Here are a few things I have found that make cooking from scratch easier, faster, and/or more fun:

Freezer:
Wait a second--I thought we were talking about cooking the food, not storing it?

The thing about cooking from scratch is that you need to have a place to store excess food, either in the pre- or post-cooked state. Our first two months here in Arkansas, the only freezer we had was the one on my mom's fridge, which I found very frustrating, since I was cooking for seven people. There was no place to store bulk food purchases or meat, chicken stock or soup. When you don't cook out of a can, your freezer becomes invaluable for those meals that you just don't have time to start from scratch that night--heat up frozen leftovers, or use frozen elements that you cooked previously (such as beans or meat or casseroles), and your meal is ready with virtually no hands-on time, and very little wait time.

Blender or food processor:
This is wonderful for getting fussy kids (or adults) to eat foods that they wouldn't come near with a ten-foot pole otherwise. Sneak carrot purée into pasta sauce, spinach purée into meat loaf, cauliflower purée into macaroni and cheese, blueberry purée into chocolate cake. (A la Sneaky Chef.) These purées are fast to make, and easy to whip up while you are already in the kitchen making something else--in fact, cook extra veggies for supper, and turn the leftovers into pre-portioned frozen nuggets to use for punching up the nutrient content in a later dish.

A hand-held blender is indispensable for blending soups (see previous comment about fussy eaters).

Smoothies are one of the best quick-and-nutrient-dense meals you can make. You can use either a hand-held blender or the traditional whirl-and-spin version. (I love my Magic Bullet.) Countertop blenders are also my preferred method for making condiments such as mayo, and blending up spices such as cinnamon sticks.

Stock pot:
Stock is an invaluable part of delicious, from-scratch cooking. Depending on the size of your family (and your freezer), get as large a stock-pot as you can, and you will only have to make stock once a month, or less. Freeze it in 3- or 4-cup containers (leftover yogurt containers work well for this) and you will have pre-portioned amounts for soup.

Grain mill:
Before getting one of these, I would not have considered it an "essential item." However, knowing that flour starts to go rancid and oxidize the moment it is ground, I decided to get one so my family could receive more benefit from the food we were eating. I. LOVE. IT! I also got the attachments for slicing, shredding and grating, an oat flaker, and a meat grinder. This thing almost washes the car. (In fact, I hear they working on that feature for the next product release.) I got the Jupiter Family Grain Mill, and I even got the hand-turned base, so that I am not electricity-dependent with it. Between grinding grain for flour, cheese for meals, onions for soup, and soon we will be flaking oats for breakfast (the groats are on order), we use this baby several times a day. Plus! It cost $25 for a 50-pound bag of wheat berries, while at the store to buy organic flour costs about $10 for a 5-pound bag. It didn't take long for that thing to pay for itself.

Really good knife:
This should almost be first on the list, because it's really hard to do anything in the kitchen without needing a knife. Since it is one of your most basic kitchen tools, spend the money and get a good one. Ideally, three good ones: a paring knife, a utility knife, and chefs knife will do almost any job you need done. If you can only splurge on one, get the utility knife, or whatever size you use the most. I have one from Cutco that I use at every meal. Paired with this should be a good, medium-to-large cutting board (NOT the $3 ones from Wal-Mart!). This will lengthen the life of your knife, and you won't have to sharpen it as much.

Cast-iron pan:
Singles, you could probably get by with a 7- or 10-inch. Families might need to have more than one pan, in several sizes. I have a 6-inch personal size (great for egg sandwiches or sautéing garlic), a 10-inch (perfect for sautéing mushrooms or making 3-egg omelettes), and a 12-inch (for re-heating leftovers) as well as a family skillet (for making chili and stir-frying family-sized one-dish meals). Why cast iron? See this post.

There are plenty of other tools that make cooking easier and more fun, but these are the ones that might seem "out-of-the-ordinary" in a lot of kitchens, and are practically indispensable in mine.

Cook From Scratch--Fast! Part One
Cook From Scratch--Fast! Part Three - What To Bring On Vacation

It's All So Magical

This week, we rented "Enchanted" and "Penelope". I was completely charmed by both of these modern-day fairy tales. The kids watched "Enchanted" every day we had the movie. I now know most of the songs from memory.

The problem with a really great story like that is that I never want it to end when it does. When it says, "The End" it is usually actually the beginning of the real story. These characters have gone through all this struggle just to be together--and you get to see about 2 seconds of film time at the end where they actually are together. Wouldn't it be great to see how they actually worked out their relationship once they got to that point?

Anyway, speaking of points, I am wandering from mine. I loved all the "magical" elements of these movies, and it made me stop to think about some of the magic in my own life.

• My wonderful husband. Not having him around this week has left with lots of time to think... and I still think about him as much as when I was in the first blush of romance. I love that man, and sometimes I still have to pinch myself to believe that my Dream Came True when he married me.
• Having clear vision all the time is something truly remarkable for me. It has been close to a year since my operation, so I no longer forget and try to put on glasses when I first wake up, but I still feel so amazingly blessed that I am able to see.
• My three amazing little boys. Not only did I get to participate in creating them, I feel it is such a privilege and an honour to be entrusted with their training and education. It is so rewarding watching them learn and grow.
• Electricity. I know, it seems mundane, but think about what it would have been like 150 years ago without it--no automatic appliances, no central heat and air, no CDs or DVDs, no computer, no internet, no light bulbs... we owe much to this amazing ability to create and store and use electricity.
• There is something truly magical about being able to take a flat piece of cloth, with so much potential, and create a garment out of it that will be worn, and loved, and useful, and attractive. Or taking bits of paper and glue and making something beautiful to look at and remember love by. Or taking a length of string and knitting something like a tangible hug. There is something magical about the ability to create. This wonderful piece of our personalities (because yes, we all have a creative force in us) was gifted to us by The Creator--it is what gives us purpose, to be able to work, and grow, and do... to CREATE.

What is magical in your world today, friends?

Lost In Ramblings

Jason left early this morning for Nashville and the Financial Peace Counselor training. He won't be back until Sunday night. We'll get to keep him for a few days after that, and then he is flying back to Canada on the 29th. Thus will begin the longest separation we have had since we became friends in 1997. My feelings about this are anything but ecstatic, as I am sure you can imagine.

Last week was pretty busy. I was on worship for the first time at our new church last Sunday (the one before yesterday). Tuesday night I had practice for this Sunday's worship, so we ate out after Jude's karate practice and then went straight there. Thursday night we had dinner with Adam and Alecia and visited with them afterward, which was so, so great. We went over to their house after a pizza buffet for supper, and the kids were so stoked to actually be going over to somebody's house--especially someone with kids--that they almost couldn't be kept in their seat belts on the way there! Saturday I did special music at my mom's church in the morning, and had another worship practice in the afternoon. Sunday morning worship practice started at 8, followed by two services, then we had lunch out (three meals out in one week! Yikes!) and a Young Living team meeting in the afternoon. By the time I got in at 6:30 p.m. last night, I was pretty wiped.

However, since Jason took Mom's car to Nashville, and Mike has the truck in Mexico (where he is currently helping to build a church), Mom has to take our van to work, meaning I'm effectively "grounded" this week. So, it looks like I will have a week to catch up from the "outage overload" of last week!

This week's theme unit for home school is pirates and map-making, an extension I threw in for fun on our boats and floating unit of last week. It's been great so far! (The whole half-day of it we've already done!) Jude totally loves the map-making part, which is no surprise to me, considering we have known that he is Mr. Map for a while now. I am pretty much making up the unit as I go along, but fortunately, we have a plethora of pirate-related materials already in the house, for some strange reason. Also, there were a lot of piratey-type books at the library to draw on, too.

So, anyway, this week, I will try not to mope about the temporary separation that is only a harbinger of the impending longer temporary separation. I will tackle projects with vigour! I will make Pirate Week a "good time had by all!" I will scrapbook, and sew, and finally get my New Year's cards mailed! I will use essential oils to lift my spirits! And I will most likely watch "Enchanted" (which we just rented on Saturday) at least 2 more times!

Oh, and Season 3, Disk 2 of Lost, too. I finally took the plunge and started watching It again. I was so annoyed with all the characters and their total lack of ability to think rationally by the end of Season 2, and swore I wouldn't watch It again. Despite the reports that Season 3 was a bummer (justifying my decision), once Season 4 hit the airwaves, certain people seemed to think that It had actually redeemed Itself. (Was that mostly because they finally decided to end It after that season? I don't know yet.) Anyway, I really really want to know what happened in the end, but I can't just skip a whole season, so here I go: I will slug through the third to get to the fourth. If I watch one disc a week, I should be finished before I move. And maybe, just maybe, the unanswered questions swirling in my brain about this fictional, totally inconsequential world will help distract me from the world I am surrounded in that will be devoid of a Very Important Someone.

Do you think it will work?

Cook From Scratch--Fast?

When people find out that I cook everything from scratch, I am often met with looks of dumbfounded amazement. My husband once relayed the story that when he told one of his female co-workers that I never use the microwave and never cooked anything from a box, she almost fell off her chair. "Those are the only things that save me!" she exclaimed.

I think most people would like to cook healthier, but their number one excuse for not doing so, I have found, is lack of time. Because let's face it: we are all very busy people. Sure, I am a Stay-At-Home-Mom, but you guys all know that this does not mean I am sitting home eating bonbons and watching soaps all day. We're busy. You, me, everyone. So, what's a person to do without sacrificing their health?

Well, I am hoping to make this a series on how to manage your time in the kitchen efficiently, to help all of us (myself included) to remember the gameplan, and hopefully avoid nights when it is already 6:00 and you still do not have a clue what to cook for dinner, so it looks like burgers again. First, though, I feel the need to explain the dietary philosophy that my system is approaching this from.

I adhere to the biblically-based whole-foods traditional diet, as outlined in the book The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin and explained in full scientific detail (with all the recipes you need to go with it) in the educational cookbook Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, Ph.D. You can find much of this eating philosophy's main tenets on the Weston A. Price Foundation site at www.westonaprice.org.

Yes, it is a philosophy--this is not a fad diet, or something to do for a few weeks to drop a few pounds. It is a lifestyle of healthy eating, based on thousands of years of human experience.

Dr. Weston A. Price was a dentist who went and studied indigenous peoples around the world in the 1930's. The peoples he studied had only come into contact with Western civilation and eating habits within one generation. Consistently, he found that the people who had grown up on a diet of whole foods, many of them lacto-fermented, had beautiful, healthy teeth and wide jaws and faces, strong bone structure, and the women had wide hips and easy deliveries during childbirth. This was especially true of those people that got much of their food from meat and (raw) dairy products, including the fatty portions, which are rich in vitamin A and other essential nutrients. Their children, by contrast, had narrow jaws and hips, crowded and missing teeth, and were much more sickly than their parents.

In The Maker's Diet, Jordan Rubin expounds on this idea further by pointing out that historically, the Jewish population that held to kosher dietary laws have had robust health, even in the midst of plagues and diseases that have ravished the populations of the people they were living amongst. In fact, this has often led to further persecution of the Jewish people. For more information about this, please pick up the book (about $13 at most bookstores.)

In this way of eating, raw dairy and meat (with full fat) from happy, grass-fed and antibiotic-free animals are emphasized. Grains should be a small part of the diet comparatively, and the grains that are eaten should be whole, properly prepared by soaking or sprouting to neutralize phytates that can bind with calcium and zinc in the digestive tract. Fresh-ground grains are best, since as soon as grains are ground, they begin to oxidize and lose nutrients. Gelatin-rich bone broths should be consumed every day. Nutrients should not be isolated from their sources, but consumed as part of whole foods. This means using vitamins to "salvage" a poor diet is right out the window. Besides this, many vitamins in capsule and pill form are either unassimilable by the human body, or actually in a form that is toxic.

Now don't get me wrong--not all fat is good. In fact, polyunsaturated fat that has been created under high heat and pressure so that it is rancid before it even gets onto your grocery store shelf is strongly discouraged. This fat causes the walls of cells in your body to lose their structure, and all kinds of free radicals to roam your bloodstream, causing your body to create--you'll never guess--cholesterol. On this list are canola, peanut, sunflower (unless it is expeller-expressed), soy, and a host of other oils. Extra-virgin olive oil, which is high in antioxidants, is good if it has been First Cold Pressed and kept in a dark glass or opaque container--again, it oxidizes in light.

But, we do need fat, and lots of it. Our ancestors ate whole food--roasts without the fat cut off, milk without the cream skimmed off, eggs without the yolk removed--and yet heart disease was nearly unheard of. So what is the right kind of fat? Hold on--this is going to flip your lid. Saturated fat. Did you know that the whole anti-saturated fat bias was not even heard of until the '50's and a guy named Nathan Pritikin came up with the lipid hypothesis? All kinds of research has debunked his theories since then, but it goes mostly unnoticed and/or unheralded in the media and the nutritional majority, because it is one of those myths that was proclaimed loudly and long enough that it must be true. Check it out. Not to mention the amount of money that is riding on people not discovering the truth. If this information is new to you, I highly recommend you spend time on the Weston A. Price Foundation site, and pick up one of the books I recommended above.

So, to wrap up a post that has already become long enough, in this series (which will likely NOT be a daily thing, just warnin' ya) I will try to make creating healthy habits something that anyone can find time to do.

What is the very first step you can take to eating healthier right away?

Lose the cereal box.

Cook From Scratch--Fast! Part Two - The Right Tools For The Job
Cook From Scratch--Fast! Part Three - What to Bring On Vacation

Angels-In-Training

On Saturday, I finished the hat for a scarf/mitten/hat set, the first two components of which I had completed last winter. The photo of Noah proudly modeling it was in the layout from last week, but here it is again. We could only find one mitten for the photo, so that is why he is only holding up one hand.


Of course, as soon as I pull out the camera (which is a daily occurrence, now) all the boys want to be in the photo, and then immediately ask "Can I see, Mom?"

But really, who can resist these cherubic smiles?

Negligence, that's what it is.

Okay, so I fell off the blog wagon momentarily. But look what I did:

Don't Worry, Be Happy

Jason and I have both been a little surprised and taken aback at the reactions of other people to the news that we are returning to Canada. There are many people, both here and back home, who seem to be taking the news harder than we are. (Hey, you "back home" people--are you trying to tell us something, or what? ;-D) While we really appreciate the abundance of concern on our parts, and while there are definitely things that we wish could be different, we just want you all to know: we are okay with this.

We are NOT upset that this venture did not turn out exactly the way we hoped. (Okay, maybe a little, but we're mostly over it already.) We do NOT consider this a failure. It was a chapter. It was a sabbatical, a rest, a time of growth--but not something we will ever regret.

The positive things that have happened during this time are many--some intangible, but I will try to list the tangible ones for you:

• We have grown closer as a family. Months of association with mostly just ourselves have drawn Jason and I closer in our marriage, and we have bonded even more strongly with our kids. Also, we have come to appreciate my mom and Mike even more than before.
• We have grown spiritually. While we are all in our own place on our walk, for me personally I have been finding answers to some questions that have been bothering me for over a year and a half now. Not all the answers. But slowly, they are coming. Jason and the kids have each been moving forward on their walks, as well.
• We have increased our skill sets. Jason got to learn several new computer programs, and some graphic design stuff. I learned how to milk a cow, and got to dive into my first year as a full-time home-school mom with very little distraction. Jude is finally at the point where he really enjoys karate. (Last night during the "today I am thankful for" part of prayers, Jude said he was glad to be "back at work at karate." Jason and I have stopped going to karate for now to save money for the move, but Jude is doing it as his Phys. Ed. for school, so he is still going.)
• We have found our calling. Okay, not "we" exactly--Jason, to be more precise. For the first time, he is discovering a line of work that he is truly passionate about. He can help people make their lives better, and I think that is the true appeal. He has applied to take Dave Ramsey's course to be a financial counselor. During the current economic crisis, more and more people are wanting to find real answers on how to fix their finances, and we hope that Jason can help them find those answers, using the same tried-and-true steps we have been following.
  
• We have developed friendships. It was to be expected that we are meeting new and wonderful people down here. However, when you leave, you get to know who your friends are--the ones that keep in touch, that loved on you before you left, and (you hope) will still be there when you return. Also, the ones that will let you live in their basement now that you are homeless! (*wink at Amanda*)
• We rested. Down here, we do not have to renovate a house. We have not been heavily involved in church ministries and activities. We have had shared duties for cleaning and cooking and parenting and household maintenance. And we have not once had to put on snow pants. In many ways, now that we know we are returning this just seems like the longest holiday we have ever had.

So, thank you for your concern--it truly does mean a lot. But we really are okay. Really.

It's Like She Was Reading My Mind!

Is there an Echo in here?

I am currently utilizing the high-speed internet at the shop to upload photos so I can take advantage of Kodak's current 9 cent/print sale. Jabin was sitting on my lap as I was selecting and muttering to myself.

"Mumble, mumble... Just a few more, and then I'm going to upload these babies."

"These babies?" Jabin asked.

"Yep," I replied, grinning at my little parrot.

A few minutes later, Mom asked me to come over and help her with something at her desk.

"Just a second, I just gotta upload these," I said.

"These babies?" piped up Jabin.

Mom and I split a side in silent hilarity.

"You got it," I said.

Back To Class

Jabin & Noah drawing letters and shapes in salt.

Jude working on spelling.

All Our Children

This is a guest post by Jason:

The other day, we had the next episode in the Jude/Emily/Jabin drama. The other day, Jude and I were talking about marriage.

I said, "When you get older you will find the girl you want to marry, probably when you are all done school."

"But I already know that I want to marry Emily." After a moment of thought and a slight hint of despondency, he added, "But she wants to marry Jabin... and she can't have two husbands. What am I supposed to do?"

"Well, there is a long time before anyone gets married and you never know what Emily will decide. You never know--she might change her mind."

Who knew the romantic soap opera was going start when our boys were ages 2 and 5 years old creating a love triangle with a 4 year old girl? I thought this would wait about 10 more years. When do I bring out the guys' edict that your brother's girl is off limits--no questions asked?

Part 1
Part 2

Keep Moving Forward

I have never been a "New Year's Resolution" sort of girl. However, like many other people, I find the new year a good time to take stock of my life, and to set goals for what I would like to accomplish in the upcoming year. I try to keep my goals realistic and achievable. And also, by posting it here, my accountability partner (a.k.a. "Jason") will remind me of any goal that I may be slacking off on--whether I want that reminder or not! ;-)

So, here are my goals for 2009:

1. Take a photo a day. While I am no slouch in the photo-taking department, over 2008 I have gone through "bursts" where I will photograph lots of things, and then lose up to a month in the interim with hardly any record of our lives at all. While this has made it easier to get almost our entire year scrapbooked already, I thought it might be fun to try the "photo-a-day" approach in 2009. And, with Creating Keepsake's January 2009 Kit-Of-The-Month (which I intend to order soon), scrapbooking 365 photos will be a snap, and a neat theme album of our year. (This ought to be especially interesting, considering the year of major transitions we are looking at right now!)

2. Take a hike. Or, at least take a walk three days or more a week--the kind of walk that actually raises your heart rate and makes breathing difficult. I have hidden behind the excuse of my children slowing me down for long enough. Time to tighten the thighs! (Ooh, quintuple alliteration! SCORE!)

3. Work on my musical. Yes, the famous--or should I say "infamous"--musical, begun in my college years and co-written with the amazing Candace, which until recently has languished on a shelf--untouched--for five years running. I am not requiring myself to finish the musical this year. Just work on it. Steady progress must be made. I have already started on this one, so if I can keep it up, next year I will be able to say Mission accomplished!

Well, that's pretty much it as far as "big" things. We currently face too much uncertainty for me to have anything more specific. Now, a quick recap of 2008:

My one and only goal for 2008 was to try and average one scrapbook layout a day. I did not even vocalize it as an official goal to anyone until several months into the year, even though I kept it in my own mind.

I fell short. I do not know the exact number, but I would have to guess that I probably completed somewhere in the range of 200-250 pages. And you know what? I'm good with that.

Here's to an amazing 2009! Happy New Year, everyone!