Eggs and Paper Christmas

I am grateful today because we have a "normal" amount of eggs in our fridge this morning.
We're not talking about the 8 or so eggs that will probably show up by the end of the day.
There is a great divide between what a person *thinks* 3 to 4 dozen eggs a week will be like and what it is actually like when chickens are on the premise.
By no means am I complaining, I'm just recording this for memory's sake.
I am so grateful for food.
And hoping that Jubilee doesn't have any egg allergies.

We're continuing our paper Christmas.  The boys made Christmas song ornaments this morning, where I would sing a Christmas song and they would draw what they thought about during the song.  Then they got to snip the edges with scissors and hang it up on the tree By Themselves.  Two thirds of our ornaments are now sideways or upside down, but it's their Christmas tree too...

In real food news, I've managed to use the chia seeds twice.  Once, I hid them in some pizza sauce, and everybody knew they were there, but nobody thought it tasted any different.  Today, I hid them in some oatmeal cookies.  I know the chia seeds are in there, but I can't detect any difference whatsoever.  So, hooray for fiber! And magnesium!

Both boys are sick right now, and I am dreading being the third invited to the party.  Hopefully I've built up an immunity simply by virtue of being the recipient of 8000 snotty kisses a day.  We'll see how the rest of this week goes.

Two new things that made it into our grocery cart this time around.
Michael gave Million a choice between dried blueberries and dried figs.  Figs won out.

And I have a hidden stash of grapefruit that the boys will NOT find out about.

It was this guy's second birthday today.  We had a simple "just us" celebration.  He got one present, an apron made to look like a firetruck, which the boys will realistically share.  

We read about 18 books, some more than once (and this is my reminder to myself to switch out our books on our "upstairs" bookshelf...I need some new ones to read to the boys, or I'll go crazy).  Then Michael read some of the same books to Creedence when he got home from work, but translated some of them into French.

Now we're settling in for a quiet evening of watching eBay auctions and playing solitaire.  And sending each other semi-coarse memes about essential oils.  Because they're funny.  Like this.

Classy.


And Happy Thanksgiving.

Why They Call Real Food "Slow Food."

Our chickens are going crazy with egg production.

We had 18 eggs laid in the last three days, so Michael brought his first dozen to sell to a coworker.
Big money...
I'm joking.  It will be about $2 or $3 a dozen.

But it IS nice that our chickens are starting to pay for some of what we've invested into them.  And we make a fun family game of taking bets on how many eggs will be laid in a day.  People who are right get a whole treat of some sort and others who *joyfully* participate get a half treat.

Yesterday, I made up some onion soup mix.

I didn't make it so much out of necessity but more because I was reminded this past weekend of some of my mom's lovely recipes that utilize onion soup mix.  

And then, by golly, I wanted chicken and rice.  Salty.  Like Lipton onion soup mix and canned cream of chicken soup salty.

That's one thing I'm learning through this whole "real food" change.

Comfort food is MUCH more labor intensive. 

We have some health reasons/sensitivities to MSG in our family.   I've probably always been sensitive, although became increasingly symptomatic in college when I was introduced by one of my roommates to McDonalds in a big way and then began working in the college cafeteria 20 to 30 hours a week.  Now the boys and Michael are having some digestive problems (sorry if you're queasy...I used to work in GI for several years) when they partake of food containing it because we eat it so rarely.  

Because of this, we make our own mixes (taco seasoning, ranch seasoning, onion soup mix, and most bouillons---still looking for a good beef one.) 

About six months ago, I stumbled upon a really REALLY great chicken bouillon powder recipe with nutritional yeast powder that has been flavoring our soups lately.   We were running low and I needed it to flavor my cream of chicken soup that was so necessary for my comfort food craving, so I made some this morning...  Million doesn't like to help with this recipe because the last time he helped, he inhaled some of the yeast powder as it was floating in the air.  He was consequently sneezing for half an hour.

I traumatize my children early on. 

I can't find the original source of the bouillon recipe, so hopefully I'll eventually get it up here with my personalized tweaks.  (I would feel bad putting up an original recipe from someone else up here without citing the source.)  Today, I mixed it in with this cream of chicken soup recipe.  

So what used to be a plop from a can and a tearing open of a packet, plus two or three minutes to add rice, water, and chicken......now takes...  an hour if I don't have my seasonings made up, 20 or 30 minutes if I do.  

But since we're in the midst our first winter snow that has stayed on the ground, and it still has it's new magical first-snow feel, I thought a little comfort was worth it. 

Lastly, a public announcement.  This candle is not available online anywhere, from what I can tell.  But if I had the budget for it, I would buy 40 of them.  Last winter, we burned through at least six of them.  It's my all-time favorite candle scent (found at Target), and only available in the holiday season.  I broke down yesterday and bought our first one of the year.  It was worth it.  

More than Enough: Food Budgeting

Today I was asked fairly frankly about how much we budget for groceries each month.
And the person responded with a dropped jaw and a stammer when I answered.
After reflection, it reminded me that our budget would seem completely inadequate to some and a massive blessing to others.  I'm not going to be forthright here, but we don't come close to budgeting the amount suggested in the USDA's "Thrifty plan" for a family of four.
We live in a wealthy-ish area, with the population comprised largely of two-income medical profession families.
We are an anomaly in our social circles.  A very blessed anomaly.

It is my job to be content, to be creative, and to be frugal.
And to trust.

"Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'  So we can confidently say,  'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?'"  Hebrews 13:5-6

A lot of people think that real food is so much more expensive.
Yes and no.
Real food can be purchased on a limited budget.
You have to be willing to make sacrifices, and many of those sacrifices are in the time department.  I have to be willing to make a lot of items in lieu of purchasing the "convenient" counterparts that don't meet our nutritional ideals.
But since I'm already at home and already in the practice of making sacrifices for our budget, I see how it is probably much easier for me to look at the time and not be daunted by it.
When I worked out of the home, I absolutely did not have energy at the end of the day to make meals.  So we ate out a lot.  Many times at 11 p.m., because of our differing shifts.
That doesn't work with kids.

Wherever you are today with your food budget or your work situation, please be encouraged.  We're all different.  We have different motivations.  We all want to eat healthfully.  And "health" is defined differently by individuals.  I know you're doing what you can.  Today was a good reminder for me that even though others may be shocked by how little our "enough" is....we still have enough.  I cannot allow culture or statistics to define whether or not God is providing for me.  We have enough.  More than enough.  

Real Food Failure: Odd Withdrawal Cravings

I've been sick for 10 days now.  Thankfully with proper drugs, I seem to be turning the corner...
I thought being sick would negatively impact my real food ideals more than it did.
I did buy some soup from Panera one time, which of course, is not real food.  
But it tastes super-good.
But I managed to stay the course, otherwise.
We actually ate MORE healthfully than normal, because goshdarnit I was going to get proper vitamin C in my system and keep the boys healthy if I could.

Today, two or three weeks into our food renovation, I had my first really bad cravings for really bad food.
I might as well be in detox.
I was craving McDonalds.
And frozen pizza.

Michael and I haven't touched McDonalds for two years now, and on a normal day I can't even abide the thought of it anymore.

But today, I wanted their french fries that have absolutely no resemblance in look or taste to potatoes.
And frozen pizza because it's so easy to eat.

I looked up one of those "if you're craving this, your body needs that" charts.

I don't have any raw goat milk in the house, and I wasn't about to just pound a teaspoon of sea salt, although we did have that in the house.  I don't eat fish, wasn't about to just fry up a pan of meat, and am trying to save our supply of nuts for our family vacation.  (And because today during a Monday meltdown, one of the boys distracted me to a certain state where I accidentally burned the granola in our oven, so our nut supply was already lower than it should have been.)

So I settled and decided to eat a "healthier" version of the pizza.
Pepperoni, mozzarella, and french bread.  Microwaved.
Real food failure....complete.
But it tasted good.

Real Food Kitchen Hack: Mirepoix Bags

I have had a serious cold the last three days, affecting only my vocal chords and throat.  I cannot speak.  I can squeak out little replies once in a while, but it hurts like the dickens.  Which means no reading books aloud/doing homeschool/talking in gentle soothing voices to boys who need gentle soothing talks. 

Despite my lack of speaking ability, I was able to get grocery shopping done, with Michael's help.  I think I mentioned a couple weeks ago that we got a Costco membership.  We're still learning the in's and out's of what we would buy and actually use there and what we should avoid.  I've avoided bulk shopping for about six or seven years, because when we had our last membership with Sam's Club, there were very few items that were "clean" enough that my body could handle them.  (I have a sensitivity to MSG, and we don't use any products with HCFS) and our membership was not worth the miniscule amount of money we paid for it.  But this time, the membership was semi-free...if you count toilet paper and a few food items as payment.  

So yesterday, we went on our Costco run and bought 10 pounds of carrots, 6 pounds of celery, 15 pounds of onions, 4 pounds of sliced pineapple, 5 pounds of spinach, 6 pounds of frozen strawberries, and 12 pounds of chicken thighs.... among other things. 

Now, we don't have the largest kitchen in the world,  about a third of the size of our last kitchen, so all of that bulk purchasing required fairly immediate preparation.  Today was the day for the veggies and chicken.  Tomorrow, I'll hopefully bag up the pineapple, strawberries, and spinach along with some bananas and other sundry items into little individual smoothie bags.  We have been blessed to have a deep freezer, so that's where all of this will go when it's prepped, 

I got half of the onions and carrots and all of the celery cut this morning.  This is my one kitchen hack that I take credit for, because I thought of it without pinterest or reading a blog or book.  (But many others have thought of the same thing.)  

Mirepoix bags.

I sound all fancy, don't I?

I should probably use that word again, because I just learned it.  Mirepoix.  It's the mixture that most soup bases start with:  carrots, celery, and onions.  I have made many a mirepoix bag, but never knew the official name for it.

Now you know, too.
Your life is more full and richly satisfying, isn't it?

I now have seven quart sized bags that I can just throw into a crockpot or stockpot in the morning to get my soups or broths started.

This afternoon, my mom is going to come over to help watch the boys while I hopefully can get a nap in.  Grateful for that.

Real Food Fail: Flourless Chocolate Muffins

So.... these flourless chocolate muffins are in the oven.
The question remains whether or not they will be worth the $80 it will take to replace our (old and already questionably behaving) food processor.
I doubt it.
But Michael's the chocolate and peanut butter man...so the verdict is left to him.
_________________________________________

Edited to note: The fact that the muffins are healthy do nothing to coat the burnt motor smell that is wafting around our ENTIRE house.

I can't even force one down.

And Michael's comment: "They're good.  But no muffin is worth $80."