New Patio Box

I know I've been posting a lot of recipes and food-related thoughts lately.  It's mostly because with this massive change in diet, food and meals are pretty much all I think about.  I am consumed by food . . . in a good way.  I spend most of each day in the kitchen, whipping up good, body-nurturing things for my family to eat, then cleaning up the mess only to start all over again for the next meal.  And so it goes, day in and day out.  Some may think it sounds tedious.  Even I think it sounds tedious.  But the random thing is that it isn't!  I love it.  It's actually very fulfilling, almost like I've finally accepted my stewardship and am reveling in it.  It has released the anxiety that built up over my knowledge that I was wholly to blame for my children's terrible eating habits.

Anyway, that's not what this post was going to be about.  Here I am trying to post something completely unrelated to food and what do I do? Go rambling off about food, of course.  :)

We got a new patio storage box.  It's huge and was wonderfully priced at Home Depot.  The only problem is, every time I've sent the boys outside to put all their outdoor toys into it, I arrive on the scene to find this:

Lazy little buggers, aren't they?  Cute, though.  I think I'll keep them anyway.  We're all flawed.  :)

Chocolate-Smothered

I've been experimenting with making my own healthy(er) chocolate lately.  And I think I've finally hit on a good combo.  This is so super easy.  You really just add everything to taste and depending on how much you want to end up with.

In a bowl, combine equal parts unsweetened cocoa powder + finely grated coconut + melted coconut oil.
Add honey to taste.
Throw in a pinch of salt.
Blend with an immersion blender (I did this with our whisk attachment).
Refrigerate.
Revel in your healthy chocolate when your kids go to bed the next evening.

The crazy thing is, I don't really crave sweets anymore.  I can only handle a teeny bit of this stuff at a time.  I prefer fruits.  Maybe it's pregnancy, I don't know, but whatever it is, I am grateful for it.  Sweets used to be my downfall - big time.

So anyway, here's what we did with our healthy chocolate recently.  Remember the no-bake cookies?  Well, we got the bright idea to smother them in chocolate for our FHE treat this week.  Anders was in charge of treats, so he and Soren grabbed toothpicks and took care of dipping and coating (almost) the whole pan.  (I say almost because we had already eaten a few of them.  Hee hee.)

Take a look at the process.  Can you tell how much the boys loved fulfilling their FHE duties?  :)

So, yeah.  Our new chocolate-smothered, no-bake cookies were given hearty approval by this now sweets-crazed family.  In fact, the night they were made (Sunday night in preparation for Monday night FHE), Dan "had" to taste test a couple before he sat down and did yet another of his signature happy dances.  I love his happy dance.  It makes me happy.  :)  We will surely be whipping these up again.  If you try the chocolate concoction, let us know how you like it or if you adapt it somehow for your family!  We love to hear about innovation in the kitchen since that's what we seem to be all about these days.  Truth be told, when it works out - when the family is smiling and giving you thumbs up and raving about your culinary prowess - it's rather empowering.  Can I get a "hear, hear"?

Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Sugar-free Chocolate No-Bake Cookie Balls

Whew! What a mouthful! So these are definitely all that in the title, but also definitely NOT nut-free, so allergy sufferers beware.

This recipe is adapted from one shared by another homeschooling mama, a self-professed "nutritarian." We are SO HAPPY she shared this one with us. Thanks, Emily!

1 cup cashew crumbs (break out your high-speed blender or food processor, folks)
1 cup almond butter (the original recipe calls for almond crumbs as well, but we had almond butter already made, so we used that.  I think either way would work.)
1/4 - 1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder (really, it's just to taste)
~ 14 pitted dates + 1 tsp vanilla + 1 tsp salt processed in blender (or food processor) until smooth
1/4 - 1/2 cup of unsweetened finely grated coconut (again, to taste)

1. Mix everything together in a bowl.  Emily uses her hands, but I knew this would wreak havoc with my eczema, so I grabbed a stout spoon (grab a silicone spoon = no sticking) and went to town folding and mixing and folding and mixing and folding some more.  It worked.
2. Form into cookie balls and refrigerate.
3. Eat.

With only dates to sweeten them, I was afraid these would need a sweetener boost, maybe honey or something like that.  But I was totally wrong.  These are so sweet I can only handle ONE!  They're satisfying and curb sugar cravings like nothing I've ever eaten.

Oh, and of course they pass the fickle kid taste test.  My boys LOVE these.  Soren calls them air-dry cookies (you know, "no-bake cookies") and Anders calls them dots.  :)  Karsten just eats them like a child possessed.  Good thing he has a mommy to intervene on his behalf.

Thanks again, Emily!

Gluten-free, Dairy-free Crepes

Can you tell my kids LOVED these?  :)  He's leading his heavenly choir as he revels in his latest bite of deliciousness.

GF, DF, yes, but not egg-free. Sorry vegans! I plan on trying this with flax eggs in the future, so I'll definitely add an update once I do. For now, please leave a comment if you try the recipe successfully with an animal product-free substitute for eggs. :)

We stumbled upon this recipe on accident really. It is adapted from one posted on the Super Healthy Kids blog that was for pancakes/waffles. We made the waffles a week or so ago and liked them okay, but we thought the batter would be PERFECT for crepes. We were right. These were amazing.

1 cup gluten free rice flour blend (we used Authentic Foods "Bette's Gourmet Featherlight Rice Flour Blend")
1/2 tsp gluten free baking powder
pinch of salt
2 eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/4 cup coconut milk

1. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
2. Make a well and break eggs into it and pour in oil.
3. Pour in coconut milk.
4. Mix all together with an immersion blender.
5. Cook as you would a "normal" crepe.  :)

*Note: I doubled this recipe and ended up with about 14 crepes (half from the larger pan, half from the smaller).  It wasn't enough for our family of five.  Tripling it would have been perfect.

We pulled out maple syrup, non-dairy buttery spread, finely grated raw coconut, applesauce, bananas, and almond butter for our toppings, but the sky's the limit.  If we'd had any fresh, we would have added berries to the line-up, too.  The best combo, hands down, was spread, sliced bananas, almond butter, coconut, and a drizzle of maple syrup.  It was so creamy and satisfying!  Dan was doing a happy dance in his chair as he worked his way through each bite.  :)

Photo of the winning combo (minus the almond butter; I remembered it later).

More photos of the happy child.  I couldn't get any of Soren because he finished his too darn fast!  That kid is my bottomless pit, for sure.  :)

Karsten was the only one who was unimpressed by the crepes.  He was content to just suck the applesauce out of the middle.  Oh well, can't please them all!  :)  This one was DEFINITELY a success.

100% Spelt Biscuits

I've tried making these a few different ways, but I think I finally hit on the RIGHT way last night. They were SO delicious, fluffy, crumbly, and creamy. Just so. dang. good!

My recipe is adapted from this recipe, and doesn't turn out anything like the picture there because I grind my own spelt flour, which must be infinitely different than "light spelt flour."  But trust me, they're good.

2 1/2 cups of spelt flour
1 heaping Tbsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1 Tbsp honey
1 cup coconut milk

1. Mix dry ingredients; cut in olive oil
2. Add honey and milk; stir well
3. Spray a (12 cup) muffin pan with coconut oil; scoop "dough" (it's not really very dry, but it should be kind of fluffy) into muffin cups with large cookie scoop or just a spoon.
4. Bake in preheated 350* oven for 15-20 minutes (I do 15) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the largest comes out clean.
5. Remove muffins immediately so bottoms don't become soggy.  To do this, turn muffin pan over above a cookie rack so muffins will tumble out; cool on rack or eat warm.  Either way, they're delicious!

Everything Soup

Imaginative name, I know. But that really is how it came about. I had a bunch of produce in the fridge that needed to be used. So I used it. And this turned out DE-LI-CIOUS! Which is saying a lot for me since I've never managed to make a palatable soup from scratch. Never. They are usually pretty gross tasting. BUT, last night was MY night because this just worked. Hooray!

Here's what you need:

1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 red onion chopped/diced
5 or 6 carrots chopped/diced
5 or 6 celery stalks chopped/diced (Don't get rid of your wilting celery! Use it for this recipe. My rubbery, floppy celery was one of the ingredients I invented this soup for. :))
2 cloves garlic diced
1 head cabbage chopped
8 cups liquid (I only had 1 cup of vegetable broth left in the whole house, so had to use water for the rest. You could do half broth, half water; or even all broth. Whatever you want.)
2 white sweet potatoes (peeled and cubed)
1 can red kidney beans (drained)
1 can whole sweet corn (drained)
1/2 bunch fresh parsley (roughly chopped)

Italian dry seasoning blend to taste (I used McCormick Perfect Pinch Italian Seasoning because that's what just happened to JUMP out at me when I opened my spice cupboard.  :))
Salt to taste

I remember reading somewhere that we should "eat the rainbow."  Just look at these gorgeous colors!

Here's how you do it:

1. Heat oil over medium heat

2. Saute onion, carrots, and celery in oil.  When onions start to become opaque, add garlic and saute just for a bit (don't want garlic to burn, ya know).

3. Add some seasoning to your sauteing veggies.  However much you want.  Remember, I only had one cup of broth, so I bulked up on seasoning.  If you have more broth than I did, you can go easier on the seasonings.

4. Add all the cabbage and 1 cup of liquid.  Allow cabbage to cook down a little (a few minutes), while stirring occasionally.

5. Add remaining 7 cups of liquids and sweet potato cubes.

6. Bring liquid to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer.

7. When sweet potatoes are soft (test with a fork), add beans and corn and allow to warm up.

8. Add parsley and salt.

9. Serve with warm spelt biscuits (recipe to follow).

10. Enjoy!

This fed my family of five with LOTS of leftovers to freeze/refrigerate.  SCORE!

Try this

Photo credit: Healthy Happy Life

Instead of putting mayo on your sandwich or dressing in your salad wrap, smear hummus all over your carb-of-the-meal.  Hummus is easy to make, provides lots of protein (not to mention amazing FLAVOR), and can be tailored to any meal (Indian food?  No problem, just add cumin or curry powder.  Mexican food?  No problemo, just add avocado and cilantro.  Craving something spicy?  Whip up some jalapeño hummus.  Garden fresh?  Roasted red pepper, people!)  I'm telling you, this stuff is miracle food.  Yeah!  Here's a great basic hummus recipe to get your wheels cranking: Extra Easy Hummus.  (Bonus: it doesn't use tahini or sesame oil.)

Today's Random Musings

1. I woke up bright and late (I don't do early), and realized that today was another CSA box pick-up day. Every Tuesday. We are really enjoying our CSA, but because of a bout with the flu a few weeks ago, we've been behind on using our massive amounts of lettuce ever since. To our credit, we've only had to throw away ONE head of lettuce. The rest we've managed to incorporate into salads and stuff them down our eager beaks. Today, however, I knew that I still had two heads + some store bought romaine + a head of kale. We were going to be drowning in wilted greens if I didn't come up with something fast! Enter: the dehydrator. Dun, dun, dun. Really, though, I thought this idea was ingenious when I read about it on the Super Healthy Kids blog. This lady dehydrates all sorts of greens and crumbles them up to sprinkle from a cheese shaker onto pretty much any dish imaginable. I couldn't think of anything else to use salad greens for (red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, etc.) except salad. If you can, please share! So, this dehydrator trick surely saved us. Now we've got two crisp, new heads of lettuce and a bunch of spinach chilling in our veggie drawer for the next week. Hooray for the dehydrator!

2. I'm really not liking politics these days. I'm rather ashamed to say that I haven't followed or read ANYTHING about politics and I know I need to get on it soon so I can be an informed voter this fall. I'm just sick of all the drama, ya know?

3. My January 2012 calendar has days FULL of appointments, which is unusual for this homebody. However, we haven't been out of the house in a LOOOOOONG time because all those appointments were with window installers, plumbers, water remediation people, homeowners insurance people, drywall professionals, and blind installation techs. All here at our home. We got new windows installed at the beginning of the month and found out shortly thereafter that we had a cold water slab leak under our kitchen floor. Boo. So, then we found out that a previous owner had already rerouted the entire hot water system overhead, but left the cold water below. This = LAME. After gouging our bank account for windows, we suddenly had to yank out another $5000+ to reroute the cold water overhead in order to avoid this same problem in the future (and to avoid ripping up flooring in the kitchen). Ahhhh! And homeowners insurance won't cover it. They would have covered damage from the leak, but there wasn't any (thankfully?). Needless to say, I'm looking at my February calendar, with all those empty days, actually excited to fill them with some activities geared toward getting out of this chicken coop! :)

4. I am really loving the sound of my wedding rings clinking together on my finger. It's been a long time since I've heard that sound and it's like music to my ears. It means that healthier eating is paying off in many more ways than just those invisible, internal miracles I'm hoping are being worked on my body's most essential organs.

5. Today I climbed to the summit of Mt. Everest. Well, my personal Everest, anyway. I think I folded AT LEAST 10 loads of clean laundry that Dan and I have been struggling to sleep under for weeks now (do you have any idea how much that amount of clothing weighs?!  I DO!). Have I mentioned how much I hate doing laundry? ;)  The last load is due to come out of the dryer any time now.  I refuse to give in to my body's aching desire to be laid down to rest (for the night, people, sheesh!) until that last load is folded and put away.

6. Kids grow so stinkin' fast.  Everest took me literally all day because I also had to weed through three boys' clothes and set aside all the stuff they had grown out of since the last time I weeded (which was a looooong time ago - 2/3T socks for Anders (5), anyone?  Yikes, Liz!).

7. Every time I pass Karsten's room (which is also the guest bedroom/junk storage room), I see these two big plastic garbage bags full of maternity clothes and I want to roar at them in victory.  I'm BACK into my regular clothes after vastly improving my diet following my disgusting first trimester.  Not only that, but I'm a few sizes back!  Now, I know people will get all worried on me and start talking about how I shouldn't lose weight during pregnancy, but honestly, if you could have seen the way I was eating before, you would only be able to applaud me now.  I cannot see anything harmful in feeding a developing fetus an excessively more nutrient-dense diet than what he was previously receiving.  Trust me, this can only be a good thing for this little Bagel.  Plus, if you want to pull out ye ol' ketones debate, just go read some on the Internet and you'll see that it's a controversial subject.  You obviously know where I stand, but I'll let ya'll come to your own conclusions.  For now, I'm enjoying my baggy pants.

8. Karsten is really cracking us up lately.  Here's a little storyboard of him shuffling around in Soren's church shoes.  He had a grand old time until he tripped, fell down, and came back up with both shoes on their sides (with his feet still in them).  Yeah, he wasn't too happy about that.  But, with a little help from his mama, he was happily shuffling away again before he could even demand "mew!" (which means "milk" in Karsten-speak).

9. Oh yeah, one last thing for those not on Facebook.  Have I mentioned yet that we're having . . .

A BOY!!  

No?  Oh, well there you have it.  We are having another boy.  Liz gets to continue her supreme reign as queen uncontested (for now)! Huzzah!  :)  Just kidding.  We are super stoked, though, because this little guy being a guy means that Karsten will have a buddy to pal around with just like Soren and Anders have each other (there are two years between them and there will be the same gap between Karsten and this new Bagel Boy).  We love boys!  We know boys.  We get boys.  We are inexplicably afraid of girls.  (Okay, I am, at least.  I'll let Dan speak for himself on this one).  My ideal would be to follow in my wonderful cousin, Kelly Z's, footsteps and have five fearless boys with one little princess caboose.  You hear that, Heavenly Father?!  I've been sending up that request for years now . . . so far, so good!  :)

Okay, peace out, people.  That last load of laundry is calling my name.  It represents my flag planting on Everest.  I go to conquer.  Wish me luck.

Aunt Susan

A few weeks ago, Aunt Susan came to visit. She's been living in Colombia for almost two years now (!), teaching at a Catholic private school there. We miss her former proximity since she has moved on from Huntington Beach. Not that we saw her frequently or regularly, just that we always knew we could if we wanted to (bad attitude, I know). But I digress. Before she came home for the Christmas holidays, she sent out an email to all her siblings letting them know that she was more than willing to babysit the nieces and nephews she's been missing, allowing her siblings and their spouses a chance to have a little three-day getaway. Dan and I were THRILLED at that chance!!

As it happens, though, when our turn came we just couldn't do it. First, we had no idea where to go for three days. Second, ever since I went to Time Out For Women in Phoenix last November, Karsten has been the most clingy little dude you'll ever meet! And I'm not exaggerating in the least. He'll burst into tears whenever someone rings the doorbell and I get up to answer it. He thinks I'm leaving. If I go to the bathroom, he'll wander his way through the house, checking all the bedrooms and living areas until he finds me. He follows me around the house every minute of every day. I just knew that if I left for another three days, whatever progress we may have made since last November (which doesn't seem like much, does it?) would be shot to smithereens.

So we invited Susan to just stay and play with us. And we had the best time! Dan is the youngest of 10 kids and I've never had the opportunity to sit down one-on-one with Susan and really get to know her. As it so happened, though, Dan felt sick the first night Sue was here and begged off early, so I got her all to myself. And we gabbed it up beautifully until midnight or so. I could have probably kept talking all night if the responsible (and considerate) part of me hadn't insisted on at least some sleep for the both of us.

But the most remarkable part of her visit was how Karsten just LOVED her!  I mean, what's not to love about Susan, right?  But usually he's so wary of strangers and clings to his mama.  Lo and behold, my little shy guy simply adored Susan and warmed right up to her so quickly. I shall dub her "The Anxiety-Riddled Toddler Whisperer." (Ummm . . . meaning that the toddler is anxiety-riddled, not the whisperer.  Got it?)

Susan plans to come back to the States, specifically her former stomping grounds just north of us, this spring. WE CANNOT WAIT!  We love you, Aunt Susan!  Thanks for spending a great four days with us!

Oh, and of course Soren and Anders had a great time with Susan, too, but that was always a given.  They absolutely LOVE her.  Here are some pictures Soren took with his new camera Santa left for him Christmas morning.  ;)

Today was DIVINE!

Ever have one of those days where the stars have aligned and serotonin is just surging through your brain at all-time highs? I rarely do. I mean, I'm generally a happy person, but today I was on cloud 9, and all because true San Diego weather decided to break through our otherwise gray January. It was a GLORIOUS 75 degrees with a not-too-hot, not-too-cold ocean breeze coursing through our neighborhood. We could hear the bees working double time on our backyard hillside and neighbors were out in droves with garages opened and gardening tools at the ready.

This morning I pulled up the blinds and opened all the windows as far as they would go. Then I headed into the kitchen and threw open wide the French double doors we have leading out to our backyard. After that, I turned on a little IZ, Jack Johnson, and Kalai at the iPod docking station and made gluten-free waffles and washed dishes with a silly smile plastered to my face and a swing in my step. After our delicious breakfast, the kids played in the backyard with their scooters, ride-on cars, fort, and climbing structures, Karsten coming in every once in a while to make sure I was still around. Dan worked on the drip system for our large planter box that will soon be home to many leafy greens that we use regularly (kale, swiss chard, spinach, collard greens, etc.)

For lunch, we decided to throw out a blanket and have a picnic in our backyard. We ate red pepper sticks and carrots sticks with homemade garlic hummus, garden salad, sliced kiwis, and cilantro avocado quinoa pasta. It was light and SO YUMMY.

Then we ran errands, at which point the day was fast coming to a close. It got dark while we were out and the sun's retirement took away any remaining cheer from the Karstenator. He turned into a little beasty of a dude. We raced through our shopping and booked it home to a dinner of coconut milk fruit and veggie shakes. So good! So filling.

The kids are all in bed now and I'm supposed to be making homemade healthy (healthiER) chocolate for our no-bake cookies tomorrow (thanks for the recipe, Emily!). Instead, I'm using the last remnants of today's euphoria to help me chronicle this perfect day. I love spring and today definitely felt like spring. I hope the weather holds for a bit. I love it!

On a totally unrelated note, but something I'd like to remember nonetheless, the other day Karsten absolutely insisted on trading his fruit leather strip for my creamy broccoli potato soup. He ate it all and never did want his fruity treat back. This kid's taste buds will never cease to amaze me! Oh to be so content with his way of eating. I still fight the occasional sweet craving, though it's usually easily quelled with fruit these days. :)