Bama Livin'

So we're here in Alabama visiting my parents.  My brother came along to keep the peace with my two kids on the airplane... and boy, was I glad he came.  Zeke got sick the day before we were scheduled to come and so I was a little nervous about coming...but he's doing better.  Here's Gwen stopping to smell the roses.

My sister got Gwen a bubble blower machine.  It is the best I've ever seen.  She was thrilled.

Zeke got a little bath in the sink from Grandma.

Gwen trying to get out of the chair the unconventional way.  She got stuck.

Today we went to the farmer's market here.  The peaches here are looking divine and look at these beautiful eggplants.

This eggplant especially caught my eye.  :)  It has a "nose."

Clay was proud to get his picture made with the eggplant with a nose.

Gwen threw a mammoth fit because she wanted to push the stroller with Zeke in it all by herself and I wouldn't let her.  I just walked away and kept saying "who's kid is that anyway?"  To console her, one of the kind farmers gave her a nectarine.  She was appreciative.  Have I mentioned it is HOT here in Alabama?  It's supposed to be 99 or higher for the next few days.  YIKES!

Nursery Rhymes

I found these today as I was reading to the kids.  I found them... um... interesting.

Little Polly Flinders

Little Polly Flinders
sat among the cinders,
warming her pretty little toes.
Her mother came and caught her,
and whipped her little daughter
for spoiling her nice new clothes.

Tom, Tom, The Piper's Son

Tom, Tom, the piper's son,
stole a pig, and away he run,
The pig was eat, and Tom was beat,
and Tom went crying down the street.

Meal Plan

Zucchini boats
pasta with turkey, salad
salmon burgers, broccoli
beans and cornbread and pork chops
taco salad
vegetable paji, aloo golbi (minus the potatoes)

*baby food- apricots, peaches, avocados, sweet potatoes, carrots- I've made the avocados, peaches and sweet potatoes using my steamer!  It's a great tool!

ps.. the sloppy dawgs were a big hit at this house.  Look for it on the Rachel Ray site.  We used turkey hot dogs.

Recycling

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn into Al Gore and make a video about how the planet is in trouble.  I am trying to recycle more and learn more and I thought someone in the stratosphere might be interested too.  Here's some interesting facts.

* Recycling creates six times as many jobs as do land-filling and incineration.
* Check out www.earth911.org for more info on actually how to recycle.  I find so many of us don't know how.  Like, do you know you're supposed to take the lids off of milk jugs?  Yep.
* The EPA estimates that 4.7 billion pounds of carpet enter the waste stream each year.  Visit www.carpetrecovery.org
* Ever check out www.freecycle.org?  Very interesting sight.

Conversation with Gwen and Summer

This is what summer is all about.  Good friends and ice cream.  This is Gwen and her friend Jackson.  When she sees this picture she laughs and says "ice cream all over face!"  Her speech has really picked up.  Last night she woke in the night and I was a little frustrated and after telling her to go to sleep and as I was on my way out she said, "be nice mommy."  That's not frustrating at all to hear from your own kid is it?  :)

Meal Plan and Food for Thought

Pam got a cookbook for me with Swedish recipes this week and so I'm going to try some of those.  I'm excited to see how they turn out.  Again, my meal plan will vary depending on what I choose from my pick 5 veggie thing I'm doing.  Last week I chose watermelon, zucchini, tomatoes, corn and cucumbers.  I got a food steamer last night too.  I'll have to let you know how I like it.

Swedish Meatballs, egg noodles, vegetable
Stuffed Cabbage Leaves, 4 bean salad
Egg Foo Young (I saw on Rachel Ray), brown rice, salad
Sloppy Dawgs (I saw on Rachel Ray), steamed broccoli
Shrimp or scallop and cherry tomato skewers (I haven't decided if I'll use scallops or shrimp), broccoli fritters
Fish, vegetables
Vegetable paji

Here's a quote that made me think this week:

use it up
wear it out
make it do
do without

Green Eggs and Apples?

This morning Paw Paw was watching Gwen and letting me sleep in a bit.  (THANK YOU) and left the table for a split second and Gwen decided to give herself some decoration with her green marker.  I came downstairs to discover her eating green slices of apple.  The marker from her hands went onto the apple.  So much for no artificial colors.  It made me laugh.  She is so cute!

Cinnamon Roasted Chicken with Pumpkin-Sage Grits

Yeah, I know it sounds gross... but it's not.  I tried it tonight and was surprisingly pleased.  It smelled like cinnamon toast in our kitchen and you think you're going to bite into something sweet...but no, it's savory.  Although I didn't eat the grits, I already had them on the shelf and they got rave reviews.  We had it with whole wheat tortillas and hummus and green beans.  Enjoy!

Oh, and I doubled the recipe because I have several people to feed here.

4 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
Pam spray
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 1/2 C water
2/3 C instant grits
1/2 C canned pumpkin
1 T snipped fresh sage or I used about oh, 1 tsp dried.  (I eyeballed it)
1/3 C shredded cheddar cheese

1.  Preheat oven to 400.  Spray pan with pam spray.  Then put the chicken in and spray the chicken with the pam spray.  Then sprinkle 1 tsp of the salt, the cinnamon, and black pepper over the chicken on all sides.  Roast for 20 minutes.  (Make sure your chicken breasts aren't too thick or they will take more time)
2.  Meanwhile, in medium saucepan bring water to a boil, stir in grits and pumpkin and sage and 1/2 tsp salt.  Get it off the heat and stir to thicken.  Stir in the cheese.
3.  To serve, spoon grits onto plate and slap on a chicken breast.

On Becoming Eccentric

I think I'm becoming eccentric.  I used to think that buying organic food was a bunch of hogwash and basically a waste of money.  Now though, I'm starting to turn a corner where I want my own yogurt maker, my own wheat grinder and want to buy local produce or grow my own.
 
I also have started on the recycling thing.  Now we have a tub in our garage for everything to be recycled.  I have one for glass, one for paper, one for plastic and one for cans and aluminum.  I unplug all chargers unless they are in use.  I've started taking shorter showers.  What is happening to me?  I'm still not on the cloth diaper band wagon, but I want to be.

How are you guys becoming eccentric?  Maybe one day I'll be the one wearing gold shoes.  I always tell my mom that when you are a certain age that if you feel like wearing bright metallic gold shoes you just do.  You get gutsy with age I mean.  The trouble with me is that just when I think I'm secure in who I am, something happens and I realize I'm just as insecure as I always was which is terribly annoying!  Ok, so maybe not as insecure as middle school ok?  I'm proud to say I've moved on from there.  You see people, this is how a discussion goes with me.  Just ask Beki.  Poor thing... I've talked her ears off I think lately.  After all... she is my therapist. ;)  (for those of you who don't know, she's studying to be a therapist)

Just Livin'

Here are some photos I've taken in the last few days that I like.  Here's Ben feeding Zeke some carrots.  He's such a good eater.

What an adorable little boy!

Here's my baby girl eating cereal with her famous smile.  :)  She is so funny.

Something I've learned recently... not to pull carrots up until the greens are huge.  Talk about small carrots!  I'm getting green beans now and squash.  I'm just WAITING for my tomatoes.  Can't wait for my tomato sandwiches.  er... tomato lettuce wraps?  Well... you can't have it all can you?

Meal Plan

When we have company I just have to have a list of ideas for dinner if it's going to happen.  Now that I'm on this diet thing, I just personally omit any starch like the brown rice or corn that the rest of the family eats.  Also, I may add some green beans or salad to my meal to round it out.  On nights when we have things like pizza I just will eat the salad with grilled chicken and veggies.  Did you really need to know all that?  um.. maybe?  A lot will depend on what I get from the local farmer's too.  I'm doing this program starting Saturday where I go and pick 5 items from local farmers and pay a certain amount.  I could get 5 of the same fruit or veg, or get different.  I'm picking it up at the grocery store near our house instead of going to the farmer's market.  It makes buying local much more convenient for me.  Here's my ideas for this week.

orange roughy, sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli, 

ground turkey patties, sweet pot or squash from garden, salad

shrimp w/ garlic and lemon, linguini, cucumber slices

tilapia (baked), Indian cauliflower (aloo golbi without potatoes)

homemade pizza, salad

cinnamon chicken with pumpkin-sage grits (a recipe I tore out of a magazine at the gym), green beans

zucchini boats, corn on cob, salad

Quick Oatmeal Raisin Pancakes

ok... so I'm not having these right now since I'm on this diet thing, but I've been meaning to share this recipe.  I made these a few weeks ago and I thought they were great.  They are like oatmeal in pancake form.  Gwen loved them with a tiny bit of real maple syrup.

2 C quick-cooking oats
2 C buttermilk
1/2 C egg substitute
2 T canola oil
1/2 C all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
2 T sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C raisins

1.  In a small bowl, combine oats and buttermilk; let stand for 5 minutes.  Stir in egg substitute and oil, set aside.

2.  In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.  Stir in the wet ingredients just until moistened; add raisins.

3.  Pour batter by heaping 1/4 cupfuls onto a hot griddle coated with cooking spray; turn when bubbles form on top.  Cook until second side is golden brown.

*2 pancakes equals 274 calories, 7 g fat

Zeke Benjamin- 6 months

Here are some photos I took of Zeke yesterday.  Tomorrow he will be 6 months old.  What a sweet little boy he is.  I can not express in words what I feel for my little gorgeous.

Can anyone say PRECIOUS???

and just in case you can't get enough of this boy like me.. here's a video.

Meal Plan

Here's what we've been having this week.  This is late..but better late than never I suppose.

fish, zucchini fritters
salami pasta salad, turkey burgers
taco salad
stir fry with chicken, brown rice
lasagna, salad
chili, cornbread muffins
slow-cooked curry chicken
sloppy joe muffins, cantaloupe
Mom's 15 min bean soup, rosemary foccacia

*steel cut oats
*baby food- I made pears, carrots, sweet potatoes and bananas so far.

Holidays

I'm so grateful Ben had a day off today.  This was a photo of him this morning with the kids.  He helps me so much. :)  I am officially weaning Zeke now.  It was a very hard decision for me and one I have cried many tears over, but I decided to start taking medicines for my arthritis.  I have psoriatic arthritis and it was affecting my knees and making them swell.  The swelling isn't good for them and could cause damage to my joints apparently.  That is what my rheumatologist said.  It was hard to go up and down the stairs and do about anything.  The problem is that the meds for this condition do not go with breastfeeding... so I had a decision to make.  I decided I'd start the meds and also diet more aggressively and that would be a relief to my joints also.  I'm on a program that my brother has been doing called "medifast" and he has lost 82 lbs in 6 short months.  It is a very limited plan, but it works.  I'm going to miss peanut butter and oats a lot.  :)  I'll give some updates on here sometimes.  

Here is a summer squash I picked this afternoon.  Isn't it beautiful?  My first one I've harvested.

Summer Time

Paw Paw is here for another visit and Zeke decided to drop in on him while he was taking a nap.  That boy is GORGEOUS!!!

Last night we went to our neighbor's house for a grill out dinner.  It was great.  We brought over our slip and slide and the girls had a good time.  Here is Gwen and her friend Katie Beth.

Will she ever smile normally?  :)

Gwen got a backpack from one of her friend's for her birthday.  We have started putting diapers and stuff in there and she carries it everywhere.  Cute!

She's starting to get curls in the back of her hair.  You know I'm lovin' that!