Friday Night Fun

I highly recommend these two recipes and paired together: Cheddar Soup with Beer Bread.

I now want to make the oh-so-easy beer bread nightly, which would do no favor to my waistline.

Helping me bake beer bread

On Friday, Joseph (almost 3) came to own his first bicycle helmet, which he received as a hand-me-down from a mom passing out some boy items at CCE that day. He donned his new helmet during lunch time, then went around "showing all my friends" for an hour.

Helping me bake beer bread

We drove home with Joseph wearing the helmet.

He napped in the car wearing the helmet.

He wore the helmet all during afternoon play, baking bread, and eating dinner at the table.

He wore the helmet while eating gelato at a restaurant and for the drive home.

Joseph finally took off the helmet to change into his pajamas and, when he realized he couldn't sleep while wearing it, he snuggled with it in his bed as he drifted off.

Meanwhile, Friday Night Fun concluded for Chris, John, and Mary by attending the fifteenth annual Charlotte Folk Society Young Talent Showcase, where some parish friends of ours performed a gaelic song with voice, violin, and piano. It was a really wonderful, entertaining, and wholesome event.

Meal Plans 2/22/15

I seem to recall that "mommy bloggers" used to post their weekly meal plans more often: I, for one, found it helpful and inspiring! So, I just thought today I'd post my meal plan for this week.

I am much more relaxed if I have our breakfasts and lunches planned too, so I've been doing that for some months. Those don't change much, although I might shift them around on a given week (a fast and easy breakfast or lunch on a day we are rushing to an outing).

For breakfasts, often I have something different than the kids, like brown rice and beans. For lunches, Chris and I usually have dinner leftovers and/or a salad.

I'm no gourmet cook, but I'm trying my best! As I must remind myself often, "I don't cook gourmet meals: I homeschool my kids. I don't do interior design: I homeschool my kids. I don't do Pinterest crafts: I homeschool my kids . . . ."

SUNDAY
B: French toast*, bacon, strawberries
D: Pork tenderloin, roasted winter vegetables, homemade cranberry sauce, sauteed rice with onions and peas, and green salad

MONDAY
B: biscuits, sausage, orange or OJ
L: ham sandwich, pretzels with hummus, grapes
D: Sunday leftovers

TUESDAY
B: bagels, orange or OJ
L: hot dogs, boxed mac & cheese, apple
D: hamburgers, tater tots, salad

Brown Sugar Oatmeal Pancakes: "Nothing is better than these pancakes, Mama!" --John (8)

WEDNESDAY
B: homemade pancakes*, strawberries
L: pinwheel pizza (new recipe I'm trying--interestingly, only two of us liked it), pear
D: sausage, homemade mac & cheese with bacon, broccoli

THURSDAY
B: homemade waffles*, orange or OJ
L: cheese quesadilla, grapes
D: chicken tacos, Spanish rice, chips and guacamole and queso dip

FRIDAY
B: toast, eggs, orange or OJ
L: peanut butter jelly sandwiches, apple
D: homemade grilled pizza, salad

SATURDAY
I often wing it on Saturdays.

* On days we make French toast, waffles, or pancakes, we often make a double batch. These breakfast breads freeze beautifully. This means every other morning I'm serving these, I don't actually have to cook them, but can remove them from the freezer and toast them. Yum! Plus it is healthier and cheaper than these products store-bought.

Scones

At fifteen weeks' pregnant now, I feel I am finally able to resume doing some things that are special, like a breakfast of cream scones, lemon curd, and blackberry jam--all homemade.

Recipe: Baked Mexican Eggs

Maybe not so pretty but really good

I have made an Easy Mama's Recipe for Baked Mexican Eggs based on fancy recipes like this one.

Step 1. Preheat oven to 350 and assemble this before making the children's breakfasts.

Ingredients

2/3 cup canned black beans (150 calories, 10 g protein)

3 tbsp salsa (negligible calories, adds great spice without opening any spice jars)

2 eggs (150 calories, 13 g protein)

2 tbsp shredded cheese (100 calories, 6 g protein)

I use a pretty little ramekin from my husband's extensive ramekin set that he owned as a single man before we discovered the actual cooking needs of a family with children. The ramekins mostly gather dust but one is the perfect size for my baked eggs. Put the scoop of black beans (no need to measure really) and some dollops of salsa inside, mix. Use a spoon to make two little depressions and crack the two raw eggs into the holes. Place in oven to bake.

Step 2. Make the children's breakfasts. Recipes say this takes only 5-7 minutes to bake, but I don't like my eggs to run whatsoever, so I leave mine baking for about 15 minutes, which is perfect for making the children's food.

Right before the eggs are done, sprinkle on some cheese to melt.

Step 3. Eat your delicious breakfast! This little power dish packs 30 grams of protein in only 400 calories! What a better choice than most toast-based breakfasts.

Skillet Pumpkin Cornbread

I'm no professional food photographer.

Skillet Pumpkin Cornbread served hot with Cinnamon Maple Syrup Butter for breakfast is fall deliciousness! It also would be delicious as an accompaniment to lunch or dinner, for afternoon tea time, or as a dessert, so, basically, any time!

Recipe: Kid-Friendly Quiche

Some families have Picky Kid Problems to varying degrees and, without getting into details about our particular children, I am delighted to share this recipe for a kid-friendly quiche!

Quiche is a great source of protein and a good family dish because slices can be reheated during the week for breakfast or lunch too. Also, quiches freeze beautifully, so it's always useful to make two at once, freezing one for a quick dinner night. Quiche also travels well when making meals for a new mother or ill family.

In our family, I make quiche every week or two . . . but none of our kids eat it, which means making something else they will eat (taking a Picky Kid Problem to a Poor Parenting Problem). Chris and I are working very hard these days to rectify that situation, so I thought about quiche:

• Are there any kid-friendly quiches? 
• What qualities would make a kid-friendly quiche?
• And what if I stripped out all vegetables and meat just to get the kids accustomed to plain quiche?

A blogger named Mrs. Karpiuk has published a kid-friendly quiche recipe at her blog. The key seems to be using fewer eggs and incorporating a baking mix (flour) to make the texture more bready and less eggy. I believe therein lies the key!

Also, I made the quiche into muffins (using foil muffin 'papers'). I intended to take a photo of the pretty display of steaming muffins stacked on a serving platter at the table, but the family devoured them all so quickly, the moment was lost.

Since our children already "know" they dislike quiche, I called these "gougeres muffins," being inspired by their flavor to remember how much I adored gougeres (French cheese puffs) that some very sophisticated friends of our used to make every time they had us over for a dinner party.

My goal with this quiche would be to slowly increase the eggs and decrease the baking mix, and ultimately add in vegetables and meat.

Bon appetit!

Special note: Because I did not add the vegetables or meat, I used only half the milk in the recipe.

Bounty of Blackberries

First I made blackberry jam . . .

Between my strawberry jam and blackberry jam,
I doubt I'll be buying jam for a year!

. . . and I still had many blackberries leftover! 

Blackberry jam and whipped cream over waffles,
as well as fresh berries over whipped cream just because!

Mini Blackberry Swirl Pound Cupcakes (which freeze beautifully)

Blackberry cobbler served with vanilla ice cream

After it all, I still froze four quarts of berries for use in milkshakes and baking.

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day

We rather spontaneously took advantage of a Sunday to celebrate St. Patrick's day early, which brought some appreciated festivity to Lent.

The meal was comprised of glazed corned beef (which was a big hit!), mashed potatoes, cooked cabbage, macaroni and cheese, green salad, fruit salad, and Irish soda bread (which was good but, of course, does not hold a candle to Chris' aunt's Irish soda bread).

We relied on the grocery store bakery for a green dessert. None of us had the heart to correct Margaret when she kept saying enthusiastically, "The cake has a broccoli on it!"

We completed a trinity shamrock craft with the children, read to them about the bishop saint, and gave them holy cards.

You know you're Catholic when . . . the families gathered pray the rosary together after dinner and the many kids don't even question it as odd. I love it!

This week will provide not one but two lighter moments within Lent, with the Solemnity of St. Joseph this coming Wednesday.

Sledding Fun

Today I am counting my blessings that we have a snug home, we are warm and dry, and our refrigerator and pantry are full. I am feeling more aware than usual at the plight of those who aren't enjoying these blessings.

Happily crafting St. Valentine's cards

This morning, we spent the first half of our school time drawing St. Valentine's cards and putting them out for the mail man . . . but I should have known with so much snow predicted here in this Southern town unaccustomed to any snow that our postal carrier would not be coming today!

The fat, dry snowflakes swirled down for about nine hours straight, which in our neighborhood laid down about eight inches. We have never seen even close to this amount of snow in our six years living here!

Children watching the snowstorm through the window

After school was finished, the children played in the back yard for a couple of hours. Words can hardly express how happy I am finally to have old enough children that I can send them to the back yard instead of having to go out there with them.

Warming up

Margaret at not yet three years old lasted only a half hour outside before there was some incident that involved losing her gloves, having icy cold hands, and many, many tears. I brought in my red-cheeked girl, wrapped her in a thick blanket, and began baking cookies, which she helped me sample before her siblings joined us: a privilege of the Assistant Baker.

The first batch of molasses cookies were eaten so fast, I had to photograph the second batch!

The children thawed out by eating warm-from-the-oven cookies while I ran their hats and gloves through the dryer before Daddy took the two older ones to a fantastic sledding hill here in town for another couple of hours. There were about 150 people there and a grand time was had by all.

I got some creative juices flowing at dinner time. I was serving homemade chili, frozen from an earlier day, to Chris and homemade mac and cheese for the children . . . what for me? Armed with a can of black beans and no ideas, I did a Google search and discovered Mexican baked eggs, something I'd never even heard of before. I made a simplified version based on ingredients I had in the house, and only half the batch. They were delicious!

I sauteed diced onion, red and yellow bell peppers, garlic, and cumin. Then I added half a can of diced tomatoes and half a can of black beans plus a handful of frozen corn. I let that simmer for ten minutes before transferring the sauce to a Pyrex dish, making two indents, and cracking two eggs into them. Sprinkle with cheese. I baked for 20 minutes at 375 because I wanted the yokes to be solid, which they were. (Bake for 15 minutes if you don't mind wet yokes.)

Delicious and a nice change of pace for me! I saved the second half for breakfast tomorrow.

I look outside and think I have never lived anywhere to see eight inches of snow on the ground. It's a beautiful sea of undulating white. We will pray that the dire warnings of the ice storm and major power outages to come tomorrow will not strike us here.

Hot Cocoa Weather

So much tastier--and healthier--than store bought mixes!

Creamy Hot Cocoa

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup white sugar (I reduced to 1/2 cup)
1 pinch salt
1/3 cup boiling water
3-1/2 cups whole milk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup half and half (I used heavy cream because I was out of half and half)

Chicken Stock (with Feet!)

When a toddler is awake and on the go all day Sunday what with grandparents, Mass, a Latin choir concert, and a celebratory dinner at a restaurant, the end result is that she crashes asleep for the night at 6:45 p.m. And the effect of that, all you mamas can guess: she woke us up at 4:00 a.m. rearin' to go! The baby wasn't far behind her.

So, what with my having been wakened and not able to go back to sleep, I couldn't make lemonade out of lemons, but I could make stock out of chicken feet. Which is almost as good, right?

I'm trying to cook with chicken stock instead of water for a nutritional boost, and I'm trying to make my own stock rather than buy it to get a much bigger nutritional boost.

Roasting the bones before six in the morning

I can buy chicken "back and neck bundles" from the local farms for $2 each (one pack is two bundles, as above, about three pounds).

I can also buy chicken feet for $2 for ten feet! Why chicken feet? They revolt our modern sensibilities but are a traditional food used by tons of Asian and Jewish mamas in the kitchen, and many others world over, I would imagine. A zillion grandmas can hardly be wrong.

And lest we be too horrified, where do we think gelatin comes from? Except for the most philosophically pure vegetarians and vegans, most people cheerfully eat cherry Jell-o, which is basically gelatin extracted from animal connective tissue combined with red food coloring and several cups of sugar. Yum yum!

I read some articles about how to make stock using chicken feet and this humorous one best captured how I was feeling at this prospect. I had thought that when I ordered chicken feet, they would arrive in such a way that I could don latex gloves, close my eyes, pick the up gingerly, and drop them in the pot. No such luck!

I read some more articles (here and here) as well as consulting a friend, who helped calm me from my hyperventilating. I don't think I processed the feet quite perfectly because the yellow skins didn't just slip off. I really had to work at it, so I suspect I did something slightly wrong, but practice will make perfect.

I could have made stock using only chicken stock and it would have been a thick gel, but I decided to make stock using the back and neck bundles with just two feet thrown in for some gelatin. My friend told me of her practice: she processes the feet, then freezes them on a cookie tray before storing them frozen in a bag. When she makes stock, she just grabs a couple feet and tosses them in. That is the method I am trying!

The stock will be frozen till needed

The final result was four quarts of broth, probably costing me less than 75 cents each, as compared to several dollars each to buy lower nutritional quality at the store. It's not often that the healthier, homemade food costs less, so yay for us!

The Juicing Is Back

Well, I'm back to juicing. A sweet friend asked if I meant smoothies and, oh, how I wish I did.

No, I mean fresh juice made mostly vegetables, including ones with strong flavors like spinach and beets, with few or no fruits. Not that fruits are bad at all: they're a sweet accent to make vegetable juice palatable. Plus fruits tend to be even more crazy-expensive than veggies. Vegetables have loads and loads of so-called micronutrients and I'm aiming to get some into my body!

I've watched the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" four times in the last few years (available as instant streaming on Netflix). It's definitely compelling, entertaining, and inspiring. (I also wonder if it was sponsored by Breville!)

When pregnant the last three times, my midwife has prescribed me juicing. But it'd be even better to get all the nutrients going, strengthening my body, when I'm not pregnant!

Plus I've discovered it inadvertently aids with a bit of weight loss when Mama has vegetable juice during morning and afternoon snacks instead of joining the children in whatever much-more-delicious-and-caloric snacks the children are eating.

Of course, an obvious and valid criticism is that juicing removes much of the useful insoluble fiber in produce. But I'm the first to admit that I'm not going to eat numerous raw cucumbers, a beet, four stalks of celery, two carrots, an orange, and apple, a couple of cups of spinach in one day, which means I wouldn't be getting the nutrients or the fiber. At least now I'm getting the nutrients. Clearly, it's a good idea still to eat various servings of cooked vegetables throughout the day in order to get the fiber.

Today's breakfast: eggs with sauteed spinach (2 cups) and tomatoes (2). As Chris and I cheerfully say to each other about this sort of health pursuit, "Not as fun as eating a brownie, but it's okay."

One can also read criticisms of juicing that the fructose is a fast source of sugar that can change blood sugar balances. Yes, well, I'll happily take the problem of fructose from a beet or an apple over the sucrose from my eating a plate of cookies with the kids or a Starbuck's coffee (disguised milkshake) or a muffin (AKA, a cupcake without the frosting). This should be our problem, that we got the sugar found in a couple of apples all at once!

Rendering Lard: A First

Last week I rendered my own lard.

Add that to the file of words I never thought I'd say.

The slab

I thought this vegetarian-from-birth girl was taking a big step by ordering rendered lard, so was startled when a slab of unrendered pork leaf fat arrived in my grocery delivery.

(And have I told my local friends about Go Local NC Farms? You can shop like you're at a farmers' market but from the comfort of your own home, clickety-clickety place your order by Thursday night, then pick up at a designated time and place on Saturday. Get awesome things you can't find elsewhere like pasture-raised meat, eggs from chickens who really live outdoors and eat bugs, fresh ground flour, raw honey and nuts, bundles of chicken backs, necks, and feet for making stock [another post to come!] . . . and pork leaf fat.)

So, my leaf fat arrived in a slab and I had to consult a friend about even what I was looking at. Apparently I needed to render the fat. I used the water method, instructions from a friend, and online pictures (what on earth are cracklings supposed to look like?)

Preparing to render: I wore latex gloves while dicing my fat because my sensibilities were slightly creeped out

Two big jars of snowy white rendered fat that isn't as flavorless as dead Crisco, but really has virtually no pork taste

So, why pork fat you ask?

First of all, my parents raised me always to trust God's food more than man-made food. So, I grew up on butter, not margarine, and natural oils, like olive. Lest we think lard is simply shocking, butter is fat from an animal source too, so lard shouldn't be that big of a step unless one has embraced veganism. (Of course, when I read recipes for bone marrow on toast, I blanch, so there are some steps I'm not yet willing to take!)

Second, I am trying to improve my nutrition so that future pregnancies (God willing) might go more smoothly. Being a lifelong vegetarian probably hasn't helped me (sorry, my veggie friends). One thing (among others) I think I need are animal products. Since taste buds are extremely hard to change, I'm consuming animal products in ways I can stomach: eggs, bacon ("the gateway meat"), milk, butter, lard.

One way I know for sure I am deficient is vitamin D. Each pregnancy, I've had my blood tested for vitamin D and it has been in the tank, such that I've been prescribed 50,000 IU vitamin D for three months, then told by my MD (various MDs, actually) to take 2,000 IU daily. Vitamin D deficiency is now being explored as causing susceptibility to certain chronic diseases (see here, here, here). I don't eat fish and I don't live outdoors and I'm bad about remembering to take supplements. Apparently pork lard from pigs who live outdoors is a good source of vitamin D: 2,800 IU in about one half cup of lard. Not that I plan to eat a half cup of lard per day (got to lose the baby weight, not gain more!), but I figure if I cook with it here and there where appropriate, it's going to help with my vitamin D overall.

Plus, apparently, pork lard is making a health food and culinary come-back! Chefs are using it all over! Mario Batali calls it proscuitto bianco--which is really so funny. This makes me old-fashioned and popular all at once, which is like a dream come true for me! You don't have to read about pork lard just in hippie dippie sources, but from mainstream ones as well, like Food and Wine. One can also find plenty of info at hippie-dippie sources too, and I've got a good streak of hippie-dippie in me!

Cost factors: This unrendered leaf fat cost me $2 per pound, so $4.74 for what resulted in just more than a quart of rendered fat. Trust me, that is cheaper than the high-quality butter and the first cold-pressed olive oil I'm buying already!

Marinara Saturday

I enjoy this phase: Baby sits up, baby doesn't crawl away yet, baby entertains himself with a basket of toys!

It seems to me that it's taken me about six long months after having each baby to start cooking again. I'm slow to manage transitions apparently. Lately, I've been enjoying starting to make marinara, which I'm always surprised is so easy when one uses canned tomatoes. I think my marina is cheaper than the $3 per 24-oz jar I've been buying (which is not the cheapest, not the most expensive), but it may be on par and that's okay because mine tastes better and has a lot more nutrition and fiber in it. Yay!

I like to throw in everything but the kitchen sink: today's batch included garlic, diced onions, a can of mushrooms, grated carrots, spinach, and beet greens. After the vegetables are sauteed, I use my stick blender to grind it up so it's barely visible in the tomato sauce.

Enough marinara to last our family for several weeks!

Of my three eating children, one doesn't eat marinara sauce, but two will--most especially if I add a dash of heavy cream to their servings, creating what we call "pink sauce" in our family. Who can argue with heavy cream, right? Yum!

Homemade Laundry Soap

I have found a method of making homemade laundry soap that I like. I tried making powdered laundry soap a long while back, but--despite my usual preference for powdered commercial detergent--I didn't like it because I had to get the powder to melt in hot water before changing the water temperature, if need be, and adding the clothing.

So, last month I tried making liquid laundry soap. I have used up the whole two gallons (64 loads' worth) and found no decrease in the cleanliness of the clothing and cloth diapers. I continued to use my all-time favorite stain remover, Oil Eater Cleaner Degreaser.

My purpose for trying homemade laundry soap is not to be environmentally friendly (have no idea of its environmental impact) or for allergenic purposes (I think it still contains scents), but because it is so much cheaper. One load of this homemade detergent costs one penny, versus the 24 cents per load I pay for Tide Free & Clear liquid, purchased at Costco.

There are several recipes online and I used the one found at The Family Homestead. It was super easy and took about 15 minutes of babysitting, using ingredients now easily found at most grocery stores.

The only tip I'll add is that this product really does require a bucket for scooping. Initially I bought two one-gallon containers that pour, thinking that would be easier, but the soap gels up in a gloppy way that does not permit pouring. I really did need a bucket and scooper.