Paul likes this

Here's something new I've tried that the whole family (including Paul and William) likes.

It is a quinoa salad that I replicated from the Whole Foods salad bar.  I'm always requesting samples of their prepared foods and if it's good I'll purchase a small container then probe the chef behind the counter for all the secrets.  I pick up the needed ingredients and experiment until it tastes like the one I purchased.

I don't know the name of it but here's what's in it:

Cooked quinoa -  I use to use a pressure cooker to prepare this but have since abandoned that practice.  Pressure cookers are quick and convenient but destroy so many of the vital nutrients and does not aid in the digestion of the grain.  I believe in and practice soaking grains and cooking them slowly over a medium-low temperature.  To make it especially flavorful (and nourishing) I chop up some fresh garlic and an onion, saute them a bit in olive oil then add the quinoa (about 1:2 ratio to water) and instead of water will use a rich homemade broth.  Add a bit of sea salt and let it cool before adding the following ingredients.

Black beans - again I use to use the pressure cooker for these but now am soaking them for at least 12 hours then cooking slowly on a low temp.  When cooking the beans I always add scraps from garlic, onions, and herbs (especially cilantro).  Don't salt your beans until they are done cooking.  And here is the secret I got out of the Whole Foods chef - for this salad you need to soak the cooked beans in red wine vinegar so they will provide little bursts of flavor.

Mix this with the following:

fresh parsley
fresh basil
olive oil
fresh garlic
red onion
corn
red or yellow pepper
cherry tomatoes or sun dried tomatoes
salt, pepper
and a few more splashes of red wine vinegar

I have also added crumbled goat cheese and leftover cooked zucchini and squash.  It doesn't look like much but when done right it is a sure crowd pleaser - it is actually one of Paul's favorite lunches.  

"It's so Bizarre"!

With all the new limitations on Henry's diet we've been experimenting with foods he can have and it's been fun.  The kids loved watching Andrew Zimmern every evening at Oma and Opa's house so eating new foods has become an adventure in which they can show off their bravery.  And it is always followed by a pile of adjectives, sometimes made up but always entertaining.

Here's Peter with a chicken foot

I have been studying the Nourishing Traditions cookbook for several months now but it is only very recently that I've had the "guts" to experiment outside my comfort zone.  The chicken feet were my first experiment.  I wasn't going to actually feed them to the kids, they were only purchased for a rich broth.  But when the kids saw me straining them they all begged for a nibble.  Why not?  my Dad grew up eating chicken feet and I even ate a few in China.  They had them right along side their breakfast of soaked millet porridge.  Henry couldn't get enough and begged for "more chicken feet" each time I opened the fridge.  I did not participate in the nibbling but the broth was amazing.  I was about to take a bite until Clara, age 3 in her cute little voice squeaked out, "they look like cute little hands".

Maryanna dug right in without blinking

So the rest of the chicken was to be roasted but after the preparing the feet I didn't think the liver, heart, stomach and neck would be so bad.  I consulted with my Dad then simply boiled them, salted them and presented them on a plate for my brave lunch time eaters.  There was barely enough to go around and the heart and stomach were the favorite.  The liver got very poor reviews when Henry who was the first to try it spit it right out and declared "yucky dog poop".

You may notice William is unrepresented here.  He squirms and leaves the table before we are through but at least foods like broccoli and avocados don't seem as scary to him anymore.  He can show off his bravery just by eating veggies.

Next experiment:  a whole fish.  This is a Lane Snapper. I forgot to get a before picture but here is the after.... you may notice the eyes are missing.

I told them in China the eyes were the special prize so they went for them

The bones and head have already been simmered into a yummy stock.

Now you may also wonder how Paul plays a part in this..... he's not been feeling well so I've been saving lots of broth for him.  I did however see several Jimmy Johns wrappers in his car today.  Still waiting for him to catch the vision of "traditional foods".

Family Photo Flip Books

Peter helped me make these photo flip books at Kinkos late into the evening the night before we left on our Utah trip.  They were to be my secret weapon to keep the younger ones happy since we don't have a DVD player to fall back on, and although music and talking books work our CD player only works when it is jabbed just right with a steak knife. We made five books.

I pulled them out on multiple occasions and found they even entertained the older kids.  They discovered they could play "I Spy" with them.  For example.....I spy lots of dirty dishes in the sink, I spy a band aid on someone's arm or I spy a lego piece under the couch.  It bought us some quiet miles.

The only problem I had was Henry figured out how to open the ring that held the book together so that became more fun than actually looking at the photos.......at least he was entertained and the mess was easy enough to pick up.

Other ideas that helped entertain the kids on this past adventure in the car:  Tuskies, the large elephant puppet or Brentwood the stuffed bear (Paul was a lot better at bringing these characters to life and was able to do it one handed over his shoulder from the front - it even got me laughing), sturdy Waldorf sketch pads, finding shapes in the clouds (yes we got desperate at times), a Hymn book and Children's Song book, and guess the year of the coin I just pulled out of the spare change pile.

We've been on enough road trips to learn that it doesn't take bags of treats, piles of movies or fancy toys to entertain kids, in fact in most cases those have all backfired on us.  Instead it is just the joy of being together that gets us through the long journeys and in some cases it is actually the journey itself that makes the trip most memorable.  So when the sun is in our eyes and more than half the van is screaming with impatience Paul and I just look at each other and chuckle out the following assurances: "we're suppose to be having fun, right"? and "this is what vacation is suppose to feel like" because laughter is what helps more than anything when you are on a long road trip with children as I suppose it is with raising a family in general.

Henry's Happy Meal

So the major challenge and stress of our trip was what to feed Henry.  The thought of driving 30 hours in the van without any treat bribes made me nervous but we pulled it off.

Basically Henry started reacting to any kind of grain,  dairy and fruit.  If you can see past the smear of residual chocolate meringue, the one sweet treat we found that works, you may see the eczema on his cheeks and arms that resulted from this challenge.  The most severe of his reactions included swollen face and vomiting but thankfully we did not experience any of that on the trek back.  

The good news is we are all eating a lot healthier because of it.  Instead of the typical road trip chips, candy and cookies we passed around baggies of fresh veggies.  Stopping for fast food was not even an option so before passing through Park City we made a stop at Whole Foods.  It was at their salad bar where I prepared a few "happy meals" for Henry.

It was so cute to see the smile these meals brought to his face but what made me really chuckle was him saying "ummm yummy cookie" every time I handed him a slice of raw zucchini.

The truth is every time he screams out in discomfort I could cry also.  For that reason I am on a mission to heal with appointments already scheduled with specialists and books on their way I am willing to do what it takes to help this little guy...... even preparing soups with, um, chicken feet or fish heads!  Because I call any food that heals or nourishes a happy meal.  

Camping with Daddy by Peter

We went camping with Daddy in the mountains.  The altitude was almost 2 miles up in the air from sea level.  It was about 9,752 feet up.  The altitude was so high the chip bag puffed up but if we went higher it might have popped.

 It was just the boys and Daddy so we slept in the tiny tent.   We roasted marshmallows with chocolate and it was so cold we got to drink hot chocolate.  I slept good because it was pretty warm in my sleeping bag.

We saw bright constellations.  I'm not an expert of constellations but William and James are so they showed me what Scorpion looks like.  We couldn't see Orion because it is summer. We saw some moose eating about 20 feet from our campsite.  I took a video of them and I hoped they wouldn't run away. I think these signs are for skiing.  It was not snowy enough to ski but we did see snow and touch snow.

We went on a hike up to Secret Lake.  There were streams so we had to walk on rocks to cross but Daddy just walked straight through the streams probably because he was too big for the rocks and they might have toppled over.  When we were nearly to the top there were big giant rocks so we climbed them and I said it was like Mt. Everest.  When we got to the lake I was surprised how tiny it was but I wanted to jump in anyways.  I didn't because the sign said "No Swimming".  If it was frozen I could have run across it in 5 minutes.  We saw a rusty anchor in the lake and I wanted to go and get it out.  James found a part of the rock that was like a chair and a tiny rock that looked like Utah but he put it back because he said it would be like destroying nature to keep it.

We all relaxed by the lake separately.  I can't remember what I was thinking about then but I did feel peaceful.  It looks like a green lake but it is just the reflection of all the green moss and trees and shrubs.  Oma let me borrow a flash light so I brought it on the hike just in case it would get all dark.  It only got dark at night but it felt comfortable to carry the flashlight anyways.  

I'm kind of getting sick of blogging so I want to draw a picture instead.  Anyways I hope I remember how much fun it was.

Wardrobe building at DI

Cathy arranged for a babysitter and took me to her favorite DI.  At first I questioned whether we should instead take advantage of the Nordstrom Anniversary sale but Cathy reassured me that we would not leave empty handed - she was right!

I admit the prices were much higher than I would normally pay but the store was clean, quality of the items good and I believe in the mission of Deseret Industries.  I was also a little desperate for some smaller fitting clothes because some where along the road and bustle of activities the excess baby weight thankfully and luckily starting slipping off.

 The best part of this outing was the non-stop laughter bouncing between us sisters and the fitting rooms. Cathy wouldn't mind me sharing how comfortable she feels at that DI - at one point she forgot to close the fitting room door!  My mouth was still numb from a dental visit just before and this episode with Cathy made me laugh until I could not control the drool - this made us laugh even harder!  Cathy got a good flip video of me in this laughing drooling state but promised not to share it on facebook.

In addition to a great laugh here's what I brought home:

vintage leather t-strap heels, made in Spain (and pictured in my previous post) - $6
vintage leather knee high cow girl boots (wore them to the days of '47 rodeo) - $6
2 pairs of jeans - $5 each
3 pairs of chinos in various colors - $5 each
printed corduroy bias cut skirt - $3
black skirt (to replace the one that got ruined after hitting a bump and dropping an oreo shake into my lap) - $5

Also found but not pictured:
3 pairs of brand new gap jeans for Maryanna - $5 each
1 pair of brand new gap jeans for James - $6
Books - too many to admit to but for .50 it was worth squeezing a couple boxes into the van

What I wish I would have bought:
a victorian doll house half finished:  $15
a bike rack that someone else grabbed while I was stewing over the beautiful doll hosue

Sunday Morning Date

After several weeks of field tripping, camping and entertaining the kids, it was nice to spend a quiet morning just with Paul.  Church didn't start until 11 am so with my mom in charge we were able to slip out at 8:00 am to stroll around temple square and attend Music and the Spoken Word.

Music and the Spoken Word has always been a Sunday tradition in our home, we record it listen and watch, but this was the first time I ever attended a live performance.  It was a great contrast to my typical Sunday mornings of bathing, wrestling, and dressing small children in addition to preparing a lesson.  I got a vision and sense of what Sunday mornings are suppose to feel like and will now work harder to pull that feeling into my home.

Paul always gets a bit misty eyed from the performances, even at home in front of the TV so this outing together was a special treat for him.  I just regret not ever attending one while we lived there but encourage anyone who has the chance not to pass it up, it is free, open to people of all faiths and I promise you will leave with your soul invigorated.