On Monday, I said I would post more pictures of Lu at swimming and at the beach.  Then work picked up and that didn’t happen. For the curious, here they are (with some bonus pictures!).

Here’s a first, I looked at these pictures and didn’t cringe.  I don’t look too bad-YAY!

At the beach (I LOVE the next 4 pictures):

My two favorite people in the whole wide world:

And a good-ish picture of her St. Patty’s Day outfit for Amber:

I saw my doctor yesterday and had some acupuncture. I expressed concern that other than the initial drop (once things got, *ahem* moving) that I hadn’t seen any change in my weight.  She’s confident that once we start dealing with my thyroid issues that I’ll see improvement.  She doesn’t want to start treatment of that until I’m down with my antibiotics though which is about 4 weeks from now.

As part of my antibiotic regimen I am taking the Allisyn supplement.  It is:

…an excellent broad-spectrum antimicrobial preparation of garlic and cinnamon extracts, specifically formulated to safely and naturally act against undesirable bacteria, fungi, viruses and protozoa.

When I first put it in my mouth I think “mmm cinnamon” and then when I go to swallow it I think “ick garlic”  the two DO NOT go together.  After taking it I burp garlic. YUCK.  I am trying to have faith though.  It’s not as bad as the Candicin.  That stuff is NASTY.  It’s peppery tasting or something.  I rotate the Allisyn, Candicin, and Berberis Formula (doesn’t really have a taste) weekly.  That’ll be done in 4 weeks-YIPPEE 🙂

In food news, last night I made some broccoli beef (topped with ground sesame seeds):

I took pictures to post a recipe BUT it wasn’t quite right.  I need to work on it a bit before I present it to the masses ;).

This morning I made a PURPLE monster that had:

-1 cup unsweetened rice milk
-2 HUGE handfuls of spinach
-1/2 a banana (shh don’t tell)
-1 cup frozen blueberries
-1 TBSP raw almond butter
-2 TBSP ground sunflower seeds

I neglected to get a picture but it was good, not great, but good.  In the future I think I could eliminate the nanner and add a little honey.  I’m also on the lookout for some gluten free, sweetener (including sugar) free, super processed free protein powder.  I have a feeling that plain egg white powder may be my only option.  We shall see.

And with that, it’s time for Friday!

My grandma, Ma, used to make some amazing stuffed peppers.  I’ve updated and “healthified” and “deglutenized” her recipe.

Ingredients:

-3 bell peppers
-1/2 onion, chopped
-6 cloves of garlic, chopped
-1 pound leanest ground beef (ground poultry works well too)
-8 ounces of mushrooms, chopped
-1 cup (uncooked) grain-I used amaranth this time but rice and quinoa also work well
-1 TBSP Braggs Amino
-2 tsp garlic powder
-Ground pepper to taste
-1-16oz can of chopped tomatoes (optional-I can’t have tomatoes right now but I usually do add this)
-Cheese (optional)

Instructions:

-Cook grain according to package.

-Preheat oven to 350*.

-In a pan brown the onions and garlic until glistening.  Add ground beef.

-Chop up ONE of the bell peppers and add it to the meat mixture with the mushrooms.  Add seasonings.  Cook until done-taste the mixture and adjust seasoning to your liking.

-While the meat mixture is cooking.  Cut 2 of the bell peppers in half and take out all the seeds and membranes. (side note: traditionally you cut the top off of peppers and stuff them that way.  This method adds the step of blanching your peppers since they don’t cook as quickly standing up, if you cut them in half, no blanching is needed)

-Mix the grain and the meat mixture.

-Fill the peppers with mixture and place in an oven safe pan.

-Cook for about 20 minutes or until pepper is tender.  If adding cheese, top the peppers with cheese when there’s about 5 minutes to go.

-Enjoy!

Shaun LOVED this. He rated it a 4.  I thought the amaranth got a little lost in this and would probably use rice next time (like normal) but he actually liked it better with the amaranth.  He said that he didn’t know any grain was there and he thought it was all meat which is a good thing in his world ;).  Lu only ate the filling and really REALLY liked it.  It’s pretty quick and easy.

Of note, this is my basic “filling” recipe.  When I make stuffed cabbage, this is exactly what I do as well :).

We’ve developed a rating system in our household so that I know what recipes are winners and which ones I should never make again.  It’s a 5-point scale.

1=Never EVER make this again
2=Make this again but it needs some tweaks
3=Make this again
4=This is really good, it should be a regular
5=OMFG this is amazing.  5s are usually reserved for “special occasion” recipes but every once in awhile my easy peasy recipes will garner a 5.

Shaun is a tough judge 😉

This is where you’re supposed to see cute pictures of Lu in her green outfit.  Instead I have these:

It seems Daddy needs a little tutorial on using Mommy’s camera. 😉 I AM NOT complaining though.  My wonderful husband let me sleep in today while he got up and got Lu ready and took her to daycare.  I’m finally not feeling bone tired BUT Daylight Savings hit me HARD this year.  I’ve had a really hard time getting to bed and subsequently waking up.  It’s worth it though-I love it being lighter later!  This morning I could not get out of bed and so my husband was my savior.  Love that man!

I was able to have a leisurely morning before coming to work.  I don’t have to be in at a set time but Shaun does thus our normal rushed mornings.  Shaun does IT for his entire organization and most things need to be done while no one is there.  He works with a bunch of night owls who get into work around 10 am but don’t leave until 10 pm or sometimes later.  His most productive time is from 7:30-10 am and so we rush in the morning to get out of the house by 7:20 (or thereabouts).

I made myself some oatmeal this morning.  I wanted to make it green but didn’t have any dye and didn’t really want to put spinach in it.  I actually thought for a good 30 seconds about the spinach idea. I decided my placemat would have to do.

This was DELICIOUS.  Oh my, so good!  I do miss my banana but my new special ingredients almost make up for it.  What are these special ingredients you ask?

Vietnamese Cinnamon:

And Madagascar vanilla with NO added sugar or sweetener (turns out this is hard to find):

Tonight, I think I had leftovers planned but I’m feeling very inspired to do something with cabbage.  I made stuffed peppers last night (recipe to follow):

And those are a bit too close to stuffed cabbage so I’ll have to get creative.  Too bad I don’t like corned beef!

I did make GREEN curry on Monday night:

But sadly I ate all the leftovers for lunch yesterday.

And finally, Lu must be reading my blog.  Yesterday I mentioned that if Lu asks for something to eat and it won’t hurt her, I give it to her.  Even if I KNOW she’s going to hate it.  Well, last night I was chopping mushrooms and she was BEGGING for one.  I know that she normally hates cooked mushrooms and I’m not a fan of raw but I gave it to her anyway.  She loved it.

And ate it all.

What cabbage-y thing should I make for dinner tonight?

This has come up twice today so I thought it may be a good time to post about how I feed Lu.

Remember when my sister sent me this book?

Well I voraciously read it and I have to say that I almost completely agree with her viewpoint on feeding children.

I mentioned this quote before but I think it bears repeating:

"You can’t control or dictate the quantity of food your child eats, and you shouldn’t try. You also can’t control or dictate the kind of body your child develops, and you shouldn’t try. What you can do, and it is a great deal, is set things up for your child so she, herself, can regulate her food intake as well as possible, and so she can develop a healthy body that is constitutionally right for her."

The book also helped me to understand why I have some of the food issues that I have.  It was a wonderful “a-ha” moment.  It was originally written in 1978 and revised in 2000 so it is quite current but it also touches on some of the beliefs around nutrition from my childhood.  The author is a nutritionist and a psychologist and most of her beliefs are backed up by studies.  It’s a wonderful read and I recommend it to everyone!  I think it would be interesting to read even if you didn’t have kids but maybe I’m a bit weird (well I KNOW I’m a bit weird).

MANY people have commented about the variety of food Lu eats and what she’ll actually eat.  She is only 17 month old (almost 18-*gulp*) but I think that her “mature palate” has to do with the way we’ve fed her.  I hope that she continues to be adventurous with food and we don’t go down the route of PB&J at every meal.

Here’s what we do:

-First it started with introducing her to solids.  I made sure to give her all sorts of different homemade baby foods (it doesn’t need to be homemade-I just really enjoyed making it).  I didn’t let my preferences dictate what I gave her.  I HATE papaya but I tried it with Lu and she LOVED it.  I used Wholesome Baby Foods to guide me on what to give her at the different stages and I adhered (pretty strictly) to the 1 new food every 3 days rule.  It helps rule out any allergies.

-Once she hit about a year (maybe a bit earlier) she started getting what we ate.  I would cut it up in kid appropriate sizes but she mainly ate what we were eating.  At this point the only thing she wasn’t eating was shellfish and peanut butter so everything else was fair game.

-If she asks for something that I’m eating, even if I think she’ll hate it, I let her have some.  Except raw sushi and alcohol (or anything else potentially dangerous). You wouldn’t believe some of the things she loves! Beet juice anyone?

-Very importantly we sit down for dinner as a family every night. Very rarely do we not eat together as a family.  It makes for a hectic time after work but I feel very strongly that she should eat with us and that we should all sit down together.  On the weekends we eat breakfast (usually) as a family but not lunch.  Lu eats lunch at 11 and naps at 12-which is a bit early for us.  Sometimes I eat a snack while she’s eating lunch.

-She gets food at a predictable time and at predictable intervals. Breakfast is around 8, snack at 9:30, lunch at 11, snack at 2:30 and 5, dinner at 6:30.  Daycare helped to establish this schedule but it is important.  She shouldn’t ever feel like she doesn’t know when the next meal (or mini meal) is coming.

-She always has free access to water but milk is only given at meal times and at some snacks.  You don’t want the kiddos to fill up on milk and then not eat solids.  We normally don’t do juice but if we did, it would only be given with meals.

-I feed her wholesome, healthy, and good tasting meals that are high in (good) fats.  She needs it for brain growth.  A lot of time I add butter, olive oil, or avocado to her meals in order to bulk them up. 

-Additionally, she very rarely gets processed food BUT I don’t make it taboo either.  I give her “bad foods” on occasion and don’t make a big deal about it.  Ellyn Satter actually recommends giving your kid a plate of cookies and milk for a snack every once in awhile (NOT everyday) that way things aren’t looked at as “treats” but more just as food.  I tried this with Lu with Oreos-she hated them.  She does like other cookies though!

-On the treat note, she recommends giving your child dessert with dinner. She doesn’t get treats every night but when I think of it she gets her treats with dinner or none at all. Amazingly she’ll take a bite of cookie and then eat broccoli. She did that last night. This way she decides when she’s full. The theory is that if you offer kids cookies at the end of a meal, they may already be full but will eat it because it’s a treat which teaches them to eat past their fullness. She gets more of everything on her plate (if she asks for it) EXCEPT the dessert-that is a set amount. The first night we did this she asked for more but I explained that that was it and she got mad and then kinda shrugged and ate other stuff on her plate. She also now leave cookies uneaten on her plate when she’s full

-I don’t make “kid food”.  Sometimes I alter things slightly but by and large she eats what we eat.  I make sure to have something on her plate that I know she’ll eat-bread, crackers, pasta, rice but it’s up to her to decide what she wants and what she doesn’t want.  Her plate always has protein, veggies, carbs, and healthy fat on it.  It’s her choice to eat what’s on her plate. 

-She gets as much or as little food as she wants (except for the aforementioned “dessert” with dinner).  This even holds true for cookies at snack, the bread at dinner and so on.  If she wants more and she’s sitting in her high chair or at her table-I give it to her.

-We try not to let her roam with food.  We try to get her to eat it at the table or at her high chair.  Sometimes snacks turn into roaming but breakfast, lunch, and dinner are eaten at the table.

-If she doesn’t eat what we’ve offered and wants down from the table we let her down.  She doesn’t get anymore food until at least an hour has passed unless she wants to come back up to the table and eat what we’ve offered.

-I talk to her about all of this.  I tell her that it’s okay if she doesn’t want something but she will not be getting anything else for at least an hour.  Sometimes she reconsiders. 😉

-I try not to make a big deal about what she is or isn’t eating.  Sometimes this is hard though 😉

I *think* that’s it.  Do I always follow these rules 100%?  Nope but I sure try!  Is this the only way?  Nope but it’s working for me.  Could she become one of those kids who will only eat one thing and one thing only?  Maybe but I sure hope not!

I received an email a few weeks back from Foodbuzz with the opportunity to visit Frog Hollow Farms at their 1st Annual Blossom festival.  I didn’t hesitate for one second before jumping at the opportunity.  Most of my stone fruit and pears come from Frog Hollow and I couldn’t wait to take a tour of the farm. 

The folks at Frog Hollow were awesome!  Even before I got there.  I asked them via twitter if I could bring Lucy (after seeing a kid option available on the website for buying tickets) and they enthusiastically said “YES!”  I invited Auntie Laina along with us as I knew she would enjoy it more than Shaun who would prefer to go mountain bike riding.

The day started with some Fava Bean Bruschetta:

Which they grilled over a wood fire:

And I couldn’t enjoy but Elaina said was great!

Shortly after we arrived, the tour started.  We saw tractors:

And the packing shed:

Nectarine blossoms (I think-I had a hard time hearing Farmer Al-I had to stay back because of the toddler on my back):

There was an wrecked car:

With an AWSOME bumper sticker:

More blossoms:

Asian Pear blossoms!

They actually hand prune these puppies.  Every third blossom gets snipped in order for better fruit.

Farmer Al gave us a history lesson-he started on just 10 acres about 25 years ago.

I LOVED his overalls.

He also told us about pheromone cards that they put on the trees:

They let out the scent of a female bug (sorry I don’t remember which one but I do know that it eats branches) and then males get so confused they don’t mate.  Even conventional farmers use this method!  He also told us that while there is fruit on the trees they broadcast the sound of a gun shooting every 10 minutes to keep the birds away.  Crazy cool things that they do at an organic farm!

Lu snacked:

As we headed back for lunch, I caught Elaina looking very motherly:

(She’s going to kill me for posting that).

Then it was time for lunch. OH.MY.GOD.  It was AMAZING.

The plate for Lu and me:

Clockwise starting with the leafy salad: Little Gem & Chicory Salad with FHF Dried Fruit Vinaigrette, Asparagus-Fennel-Blood Orange Salad, Long Cooked Winter Greens with Spring Onions, Spring Garlic Braised Lamb with Artichoke, and End of Winter Vegetable & Lentil Stew.

That lamb was the best lamb I have ever tasted.  It was delish!  I went back for seconds on the lamb and asparagus.  Lu LOVED the asparagus.

She’s never had it because Daddy really doesn’t like it-he claims that he can smell it on me (like emanating from my skin) when I eat it.  I believe him too because I will have eaten just a quarter of a spear and he’ll know.  I may have to make him suffer though.  I love it and so does Lu! Lu, in fact LOVED all the food (well except the salad-she tried it but spit it out).  The lemonade was a HUGE hit too.  She was a very happy girl.

The day ended with a talk about Bees from Dr. Gordon W Frankie, Alan Hawkins, and crew but we didn’t get to hear much of it since it was already WAY past Lu’s naptime (and I didn’t want her to meltdown) and Elaina had a soccer game.  What I did hear of the talk was pretty fascinating!

It was a sold out crowd and for good reason!

The day was AWESOME!  We did end it by getting stuck in the mud but were saved by the guys from the farm.

Thank you AGAIN Frog Hollow Farms and Foodbuzz-we had SUCH A BLAST!!!

Buy local and organic!

Lucy had her first swim lesson of the season (not counting her bonus swim lesson in Boise):

We went to the (windy) beach:

And I went to Frog Hollow Farm’s 1st Annual Blossom Festival:

Much, much, MUCH more on all of this (especially the festival) later today.  I’ve got to earn a living first. 

I WISH I could just blog all day 😉

I have the best life.

Last night I cooked up some Amaranth for dinner.  I haven’t had it in YEARS but I do remember really liking it.  I took some pictures to show y’all what it looks like since most people have never had it.

It’s very nutty tasting to me and has a crunch-ier texture than most grains.  I made it with some chicken stock and then topped it with a little butter/olive oil mix.  ‘Twas delicious. I have to warn you though that it does come out looking very much like it went IN-so don’t be shocked. 😉

Lu LOVED it and ate a good 2 cups of it. I tried to get a picture of her amaranth covered self but it’s so small that you can’t really see it.

Last night Shaun had to work late so I was in bed by 8:30 and fast asleep by 9.  We didn’t set the alarm and we both woke up around 7:15.  It felt glorious!

The sun is shining today and I took the opportunity to wear my flippies.

One of my co-workers gave me shit for my shoe attire but I told him that I didn’t care.  It was flip flop weather!  And hey, I have co-workers who wear their bike shorts all day with NO shoes so I think my flippies are A-OK.

What’s appropriate attire where you work?

Me to my doctor:

Hi My Doctor,

Ever since I started the new program I have been extremely tired.  At first I attributed it to the head cold that I had but 3+ weeks later I don’t think I can attribute it to that.  I used to get up every morning at 5:30 to go work out and now I can’t get out of bed.  I’ve been making sure to get between 7-8 hours of sleep and I’m still extremely tired.

My hypothesis is that my body is busy healing itself but I have no clue.  I know it’s not good to NOT exercise so I have been trying to get out for walks and things but my early morning exercise is not happening.  Is this normal?

Thoughts?

Thanks!

Chelsea

My doctor back to me:

Hi Chelsea-

Sometimes that does happen when the body is needing more time of rest to help repair. Try getting a little more sleep if possible for the next week and see how you feel. More like 8.5 – 9 hours. I will also take a look at your chart and see if anything else comes to mind.

Your Doctor

This exhaustion meets or even exceeds what I felt in my first trimester-that’s saying A LOT.  BOO.

To end this post on a positive note.  My Mom sent me this:

I’m excited! Now excuse me while I go take a nap.