Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: Coconut Red Lentil Soup leftovers
D: scramble, toast
Prep: feed mother, start quinoa sprouts, start yogurt at 4

Tuesday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: lentil soup leftovers
D: roast chicken, quinoa w/squash & zucchini
Prep: feed mother, make chicken/quinoa salad w/leftover chicken, start chicken stock

Wednesday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: chicken/quinoa salad leftovers
D: quiche, salad, bread
Prep: feed mother

Thursday
B: leftover quiche
L: chicken/quinoa salad leftovers
D: date night
Prep: feed mother

Friday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: leftover something
D: coconut chicken soup, fresh spring rolls (carrots, jicama, sprouts) w/sweet chili sauce
Prep: feed mother, soak oats for baked oatmeal

Saturday
B: baked oatmeal, coffee
L: leftover coconut chicken soup
D: dinner with in-laws
Prep: feed mother

Sunday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: leftover coconut chicken soup
D: homemade pizza
Prep: made pizza dough, feed mother, write next week's menu

See more menus at Menu Plan Monday hosted by Orgjunkie.

On another note, my Recipe Test Tuesday attempt was a botched experiment. I just don't have the time or organizational ability to pull it off right now. However, it is rare that a week goes by that I don't try something new in my kitchen. In the future, I'll link these experiments to GNOWFGLINS as a Tuesday Twister and post them as such on my site. For this week's recipe test see the post for Coconut Red Lentil soup below. Hope you try it!

Recipe Test ... uhh ... Sunday - Coconut Red Lentil Soup

Ryan's never said, "God bless you, Jen," in the middle of a meal before, but this Coconut Red Lentil Soup drew it from his lips. The picture transfer from the camera to Ryan's computer to my computer (long story) just isn't going to happen given my crazy week, so you'll just have to rely on Heidi's picture from 101 Cookbooks. Where does she get all those cool bowls? The only modification I made to the recipe was to add red curry paste to give it more of a bite. And I think I also added more raisins, which surprised and delighted me with their punch of sweetness. Hope you try it!

From "The Writer on, and at, Her Work"

an excerpt
by Ursula K. LeGuin

Her work, I really think her work
isn't fighting, isn't winning,
isn't being the Earth, isn't being the Moon.
Her work, I really think her work
is finding what her real work is
and doing it,
her work, her own work,
her being human, her being in the world.

So, if I am
a writer, my work
is words. Unwritten letters.
Words are my way of being human, woman, me.
Word is the whorl that spins me,
the shuttle thrown though the warp of years
to weave a life, the hand
that shapes to use, to grace.
Word is my tooth,
my wing.
Word is my wisdom.

I am a bundle of letters
in a secret drawer
in an old desk.

Writers: Please find and read the rest.

Menu Plan Monday

This week is spring break, and we're celebrating with some more exciting breakfasts as well as a bit more shared kitchen responsibility (yippee!), ergo the homemade pizza (which didn't happen last week but which Ryan, except for the crust, can make himself), tuna melts, yumm bowls, and scrambles. Good to have you home honey!

Monday
B: banana carmel sticky buns, hard boiled egg, coffee
L: tuna melts, carrots w/hummus
P: feed the mother, pick up milk & eggs from the farm, make granola, start garbanzo sprouts
D: Curried Sprouted Lentils w/cucumber raita, naan, spinach salad

Tuesday
B: yogurt, granola, coffee
L: Moroccan Carrot Soup (see Recipe Test Tuesday on, yup you guessed it, Tuesday)
P: feed the mother, make quiche crust
D: company for dinner - quiche (me), bread (me), fruit salad (mom), uncle Steve and Grandma Effie are off the hook

Wednesday
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: leftover Moroccan Carrot Soup
P: feed the mother, make pizza dough, start lentil sprouts, soak flour for pizza crust
D: homemade pizza

Thursday
B: scones, yogurt, coffee
L: leftover pizza, salad
P: feed the mother, make bread
D: date night out

Friday
B: sourdough pancakes with blueberries instead of peaches, coffee
L: leftover buffet or yumm bowls
P: feed the mother, start quinoa sprouts
D: Coconut Red Lentil soup, side? (any suggestions?), more naan?

Saturday (Farmers Market!)
B: scramble, toast, coffee
L: big salad w/fresh market veggies, bread w/cheese
P: feed the mother
D: leftover Coconut Red Lentil soup

Sunday
B: granola, banana, raw milk
L: Squash Boats with Quinoa
D: roast chicken, steamed veggies, bread
P: feed the mother, write next week's menu, make curry chicken salad from chicken leftovers (Mon/Tues lunch)

Looks like a good week! I must be in a spicy mood with curry lentils, Moroccan soup, etc. Hmmm ... maybe we should let Ryan know :)

See more menus at Menu Plan Monday!

Phantonyms and Loose Usage

I was browsing the archives of On Language today and learned something while reading an article entitled Phantonym. Apparently enormity doesn't mean enormous (as I thought it did). It means great wickedness. I'm glad my students didn't know that last week when, referring to the state reading test, I said something like, "Don't be overwhelmed by the enormity of the test because we're going to spread it out over four day." While I, along with many other teachers, believe many of the standardized tests to be a great wickedness, I certainly didn't want my students going into the test with this thought in mind.

Other words I was using incorrectly? - disinterested and fortuitous.

So, though fortuitous, it was a fortunate wandering that led me to this article, for I believe that many teachers miss the enormity of the effect our language misuse has on students (and children in general) and being reminded by someone disinterested in education is a good prompt to reflect on this.

Isn't phantonym a great word? Any others come to mind?

Crock Pot Yogurt

I got our crock pot out today for the first time since we got married 5 1/2 years ago. I figured out first crock pot dinner would be white bean chicken chili or a nice stew with chuck roast, potatoes, carrots, and onions. But no. My husband is not surprised, especially because of my recent "but I could make that!" kick.

I got our crock pot out today to make, of all things, yogurt. I'm all about high organization, low actual time commitment, and good, real food. Though we've been drinking raw milk, we eat yogurt made with pasteurized milk (don't know any way around that), so I decided that making yogurt with pasteurized milk wasn't so bad. I could make it with raw milk, but it would be pasteurized anyway because of the process required to make yogurt. Anyway ...

2 1/2 hours on low followed by 2 hours of just sitting there (crock pot off).








Wrapping her up for the night after adding in some live culture









Straining some of the whey off to make thicker yogurt. See Bittman's article on making greek yogurt in the NYT.
(I left some in the cheesecloth to make cheese.)






Yogurt with homemade granola, banana, and craisins for breakfast. Yum!

Recipe Test Tuesday

When we finally got dinner on our plates at 6:50, it looked so good, and I was so hungry, that I completely forgot to take a picture before plowing my fork into the potatoes. Then I remembered and stopped sharply, but my plate clearly betrayed my forgetfulness. So just picture it ... a small, brown, square plate with a pile of mashed, buttery yukon golds next to several small chunks of pork, with dark green sauteed kale piled liberally over both, all drizzled with a dark brown balsamic sauce that was so strong it tickled my nose. Ok, so I'm not a food writer.

It was delicious, and I realized a belief I have about cooking that I've never really thought about before. I believe that one quality of a good meal is that one can combine any of the mains or sides on a fork and it all still tastes amazing. I didn't have meals like this growing up. My parents fed us well, but there were about half a dozen sides that they felt went equally well with any dish (ice berg lettuce salad, bran muffins, corn, fruit salad ... I'm sure there are a couple more). I, however, think sides should actually GO with a dish, like they were meant to be together. Coconut chicken soup with green apple and red pepper salad (fish sauce, lemon juice, and paprika dressing). White chicken chili and sweet squash corn muffins. Homemade pizza and beer (beer's a side, right?). Pork and kale with balsamic reduction sauce. They're just good together.

All the combinations of pork, kale, and potatoes tasted lovely. Even Ryan agreed, and he's not a cooked greens guy (neither was I until about a month ago, well, a cooked greens girl at least).

So forgive me for the lack of a picture. I'll have to make it again sometime and post a picture at that time. Until then, this'll have to do.

Pork with Mashed Potatoes, Sauteed Kale, and Balsamic Reduction Sauce (inspired by this recipe)

Sauce:
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 t rosemary
sprinkle of pepper
Simmer sauce ingredients in a pan over moderate heat until just syrupy and reduced to about 1/4 cup. This took me about 6 minutes.. Pour the sauce through a sieve into a small bowl. Dump the rosemary.

Kale:
large handful of kale (I used chard before and that works well too. I'm guessing beet greens may work too.)
1/4 c red onion
1 t garlic
salt & pepper to taste
olive oil or butter to saute
Saute the onion and garlic 4-5 minutes. Add the kale, salt, and pepper and cook 7-8 minutes or until they're done like you like them. You can add a little water to make them softer if you'd like.

Pork:
Cook pork (I had kabob meat, chops would also work nicely) while the other parts of the meal cook
The original recipe is for broiled lamb chops sprinkled with garlic, salt, rosemary, and pepper. I figured that if I was going to drizzle the pork with the reduction sauce and eat it with potatoes and kale that I probably didn't need to season the pork. I just sprinkled a little salt on it and called it good.

Mashed potatoes:
2 yukon golds (steams and smashed)
a good amount of butter
1/4 c. sour cream or plain yogurt
1/4 c. cream cheese
salt & pepper to taste

Backwards Bean

My little one, who still isn't crawling at 8 1/2 months and only rolls in one direction, has finally become a bit mobile. She's a one-directional roller who can now push herself backwards too (especially on hard surfaces). This amuses her when she in a good mood just rolling around on the floor, but completely ticks her off when she's trying to get sometime.

Yesterday, I set a bottle of nail polish in front of her, knowing it's novelty would make her long for it. And I put it just out of her reach. She reached and wiggled, and finally pushed herself up on all fours (on her hands and toes, of all things), and proceeded to push herself backwards. She fussed and tried again. Backwards again. She tried a couple more times until she was certain she was going the wrong way. The rolled over and cried, and looked up at me with pleading eyes. And, of course, I gave the bottle to her.

But don't get me wrong, I'm still thankful she's relatively immobile. It won't be long before we've got to do a bit of redecorating.

Menu Plan Monday

Monday
B: yogurt & granola, coffee
L: leftover quinoa chicken salad
D: lentil loaf w/cucumber raita, veggies & hummus (I know it was on my menu last week, but it never actually happened.)
Prep: feed the mother, take pork kabobs out of freezer

Recipe Test Tuesday!
B: scrambled eggs, toast, coffee
L: lentil loaf leftovers
D: pork kabobs w/chard & mashed potatoes drizzled with reduced balsamic vinaigrette sauce
Prep: feed the mother, make quiche crust dough, make bread, start crock pot yogurt at 4pm

Wednesday
B: yogurt & granola, coffee
L: lentil loaf leftovers
D: quiche, toast
Prep: bake sourdough bagels, feed the mother

Thursday
B: yogurt & granola, coffee
L: leftover quiche
D: date night!
Prep: feed the mother, start quinoa sprouts, make granola, soak nuts for lemon curd bars

Friday
B: yogurt & granola, coffee
L: leftover quiche
D: Una cena mexicana con amigos (tortilla soup or make-your-own tostada), lemon curd bars
Prep: feed the mother, soak oats for baked oatmeal

Saturday
B: baked oatmeal with yogurt, slivered almonds, & pan-fried apples w/butter & cinnamon, coffee
L: leftovers from Mexican night
D: homemade pizza, salad
Prep: make sourdough crackers, make pizza crust, feed the mother

Sunday
B: scrambled eggs, toast, coffee
L: tuna melt, veggies & hummus
D: quinoa curry chicken salad
Prep: feed the mother, write next week's meal plan

Check out other menus at Menu Plan Monday!

Gynandromorphs

So apparently (because NPR's reporting it) there are rooster/chickens that are half male and half female. They're called gynandromorphs (well, the chickens and any other living thing that's 1/2 male and 1/2 female) but, after considering options such as rickens and choosters, I think they should be called chicksters.

Check out the gender-bending chickens.

But in all seriousness, it makes me wonder if we aren't messing with biology so much, treating life with such disrespect, that a chicken no longer knows if it's chicken or a rooster. Maybe there's a good, healthy scientific explanation (NPR didn't really go there), or maybe it's the sad way we treat the chickens.

Spring Cleaning Challenge

Check out the Spring Cleaning Challenge at Nourishing Gourmet!

I'm not really one for contests and I certainly don't have extra time on my hands, but after doing last week's challenge - cleaning out my freezer and fridge - I felt refreshed and inspired. So I'm up for a new one.

I'm one of those people who, though I live if a pretty cluttered (even dirty...yikes!) house, I really am a highly organized person. It's just that if it can't be organized, it might as well be completely disorganized because nothing in the middle is good enough. Though this psychology makes sense to me, it's not something I'm very proud of.

So an organizing challenge is fun (yep, kind of a nerd that way). My fridge and freezer look so much better from last week's challenge (and that, of course, made me feel quite good), so I decided to go for this week's challenge too. And, we're in the middle of a pretty big food transition in our house (Weston A Price style), so my pantry's in need of a thorough cleaning anyway. Out with the old. In with the new.

Monday
B: granola/yogurt bowl
L: tuna sandwich, carrots
D: chicken, steamed veggies
To do: make bagels, make chicken salad w/leftover chicken

Tuesday
B: granola/yogurt bowl
L: chicken salad, apple
D: Jen's out for friend's bday, Ryan's on his own
To do: make quiche crust, soak oats for porridge

Wednesday
B: porridge w/craisins
L: chicken salad, apple
D: quiche, toast

Thursday
B: granola/yogurt bowl
L: leftover quiche
D: Potluck w/Book Group (Ryan's on his own)
To do: make potluck dish (not sure what yet), grocery shop for Thurs-Sun

Friday
B: granola/yogurt bowl
L: leftover quiche
D: Tortilla casserole, refried beans, and latin sauerkraut (w/friends!)

Saturday
B: scramble, toast
L: lunch date w/o the Bean
D: burgers
To do: soak oats for breakfast

Sunday
B: baked oatmeal
L: tuna melts, salad
D: lentil loaf topped with cucumber raita, salad

Conversation with Soren

I spent one afternoon last week with Soren, Elliot, and Penny while Marianne went to use a spa gift. Lovely hair, by the way! It was nice to have some comic relief amidst the chaos. Moms are amazing, period. But I think moms with more than kids than they have arms are especially amazing. In between juggling naps and questions from the boys, I had this funny conversation with Soren that made me laugh.

Me: Do you guys want some milk with your snack?
Soren: Do you get milk from my mom?
Me: No, I get milk from a different farmer in Junction City.
Soren: No, we can't drink it.
Me: Well, I get raw milk from cows just like you guys do. It's just from different cows. I think it's ok for you to drink it.
Soren: What do your cows look like?
Me: I think they're brown and white. What do your cows look like?
Soren: Well ... (complicated description I can't quite remember that included specific shades of brown on specific parts of the cows' bodies)
Me: That sounds like my cows. I think you can probably drink my milk.
Soren: Do you have a picture of your cows?
Me: Hmmm. Yeah. I can get one on the computer. (I found a picture on the farm's website.)
Soren: Those don't look like my cows. Sorry Jen, we can't drink your milk.
Me: Ok Soren. Do you guys want water?
Boys: Yeah.
(I get them water.)
Me: Do you guys want to share a banana?
Soren: Where do you buy your bananas, Jen?
Me: Capellas
Soren: We can't eat your bananas.
Me: (Ah-ha, I'm catching on!) Where do you get your bananas?
Soren: Market of Choice
Me: (Wondering how far logic will take me) Well, I'm pretty sure Market of Choice and Capellas buy bananas from the same banana farm. I think it's ok for you to eat my bananas if you want some.
Soren: Oh! We shop at Cabellas too! But mama only buys bananas from Market of Choice.
Me: (Alas, conviction wins over logic.) Oh, so you can't eat my bananas?
Soren: No.

As one would expect, that Scrivner boy sure knows that food source is important! Way to go Marianne :)

Got Breast Milk?

I'm not a bumper sticker person. I generally think they're a weird way of attempting to share your opinion. No one asked. It's just you (or them) sharing your (or their) opinion without the possibility of conversation, which I think is kinda weird. However, I quite enjoyed this particular bumper sticker. I'm pretty sure I waved and yelled, "I do!" And, it reminded me of something I read lately that I wanted to share because I thought it was so beautifully cool.

From Nina Planck's Real Food:
"In one of nature's many elegant efficiencies, the antibodies in breast milk are targeted to the pathogens in the mother and baby's immediate environment; they are tailor-made for the baby."

Isn't that amazing! Aside from the fact that there are over a hundred ingredients in breast milk (that the formula industry simply cannot duplicate), that the ratio of protein to fat to carbs is perfect (at least in a well-fed mom), and that it creates a profound bond between the mom and baby, the fact that God made us able to supply our babes with the perfect pathogens for our dirty, little homes (or perhaps not-so-dirty in the case of other mother's homes :) ) is, I believe, amazingly wonderful.

Got breast milk?

Pause Button

I want a remote control for life at this moment. I want to pause her as she plays on the floor, clapping together little wooden blocks, rocking back and forth to the music, and making her own sounds as if to sing along. She studies the dots on the bottom of an animal. She puts it in her mouth and makes a face ... I used to like this? it seems to say. She looks at me and smiles, leans for the computer and giggles when I pull it away. She goes back to her rocking and clapping. She is perfect and beautiful, and I look at her knowing that this is a perfect moment together. There will be many moments that are not so perfect, moments that are painful and sad. I wish I could rewind to this moment or fast-forward through those. But I can't. And I know why, but it doesn't make the longing for a pause button any less.