Davis Family Update

According to recent figuring, the Davis family, as a clan, has been sick for a total of a month.  This means that for a solid month either someone was sick, someone was recovering from being sick, or someone was on the verge of getting sick (even if we didn't realize it).  Here's some highlights from the last month: 

• Micah (after a false attempt a week earlier involving him throwing up right in front of the restaurant we were leaving) got a wicked stomach flu and threw up eight times over night. 
• Owen joined him partway through the night. 
• Jesse joined several days later.  That night Owen ended up at the ER with dehydration. 
• The next day Val caught a bad cold from sleep deprivation which lasted almost a week. 
• A few days later Micah got a horrible cold, which involved mild fever, the nebulizer, and a pink eye (it was viral pink eye and involved stress and a missed school day but never turned into anything serious enough for medication). 
• A few days later, Jesse started and got the same symptoms plus an ear infection.  [Right after that, the boy we babysit for caught it and developed bronchitis, an ear infection, and mild pink eye, poor child caught in the house of contagion.] 
• Before Jesse fully recovered from the ear infection, I, Val, was up with a terribly sore throat and unable to sleep.  This developed into a kind of laryngitis. 
• Owen joined a day later. 
• Val and Owen had three awful days and are finally recovering. 
• Micah has caught it. 

I am happy to report that the family was vaccinated against all flus this year.  Don't know how we'd survive a round of that next.

Last Night For Dinner

Last night for dinner we had a garlic and onion-free version of an old favorite.  Vegetarian Paella (well, except I threw in a few pieces of leftover frozen turkey meat):

I adapted the recipe (and it's slightly different each time) from one I found on the Whole Foods web site.  The fun part of real seafood paella is the shellfish you get to open while eating.  So I leave chunky vegetable "surprises" in the rice for this one, too.  In the summer you can put half ears of corn in the cob in there.  My winter version was as follows:

[onion]
[garlic]
[pepper]
If I could stand how they taste and smell right now (I've had to avoid them all of my pregnancies) I'd have first sauted these first two ingredients in olive oil.  And if I wasn't later adding chunks of roasted red pepper I'd have added that, too.  Since I wasn't doing any of these, I started by sauteing uncooked rice with some strands of saffron.  If you don't have saffron, you can substitute by using a little turmeric.  Saute rice for a few minutes on low heat.  Add a can of tomatoes (diced or whole) with juice (or frozen diced tomatoes if you stocked your freezer with seasonal veggies in the fall) and some broth (chicken or vegetarian).  Broth should just cover the rice.  I didn't measure either, just be sure to add more water or broth later if rice seems to be drying out while cooking.  At this point you have a lot of freedom in what to add.  Last night I added soy beans (the last time I used lima beans), green olives, roasted red peppers, shredded zucchini/summer squash (I had that frozen from fall in one cup measurements--I stuck in one cup), and some frozen hunks of leftover Christmas turkey meat (you could easily leave that out, unless you're married to a "every dish must have some meat" guy like I am).  Then I left it on the stove on low heat until the rice was softened but not soggy.  I stirred in frozen peas and orange slices as my last step and let it sit until they warmed.  When I put the paella on our plates (or you can serve all of it on a large shallow bowl and be more authentic) I added some slices of sweet potato (I had baked those in my crockpot during the day) and some slices of avocado.  It serves beautifully.  We had sauted broccoli rabe on the side, which was a great compliment.

A Cool Twist on "O Taste and See that the Lord is good"

O Taste and See

Denise Levertov, 1964

The world is
not with us enough
O taste and see
the subway Bible poster said,
meaning The Lord, meaning
if anything all that lives
to the imagination’s tongue,
grief, mercy, language,
tangerine, weather, to
breathe them, bite,
savor, chew, swallow, transform
into our flesh our
deaths, crossing the street, plum, quince,
living in the orchard and being
hungry, and plucking
the fruit.

January Harvest!

Believe it or not, we just pulled these out of the ground today.  Our fall carrots that I was too sick to care about a few months ago when I should have picked them.  They were still pretty good, though I doubt the recent hard frost of several days did them any good.  Anyway, I'm so proud to be harvesting anything this time of year.  :)

Ham and Green Beans: The Easiest Meal Ever

So today I tried my nausea-friendly, lazy dinner idea.  Nausea-friendly and lazy for several reasons:

1. I didn't need to fry or cook anything in a smelly sort of way
2. Once I put the ingredients in the crockpot I was mostly done
3. I could plug the crockpot in in the basement
4. For whatever reason, ham (normally a meat I never cook) goes down easy this pregnancy (which is really ironic because ham is pink, what a gross color for a meat)
5. The meal is an all-in-one meal (no sides needed)

Anyway, I felt that I had to post about my success because it tastes amazing with the nice hammy salty broth and crisp green beans (I add them at the end) and soft potatoes that absorbed the broth.  It's a recipe from my Pennsylvania Dutch roots.

Ham and Green Beans

Put a rinsed off ham hock (which is actually hard to find outside of Lancaster County but can be substituted with a pork/ham cut that basically looks like a little meat and skin wrapped around a hunk of ham bone) and about 6 medium/large potatoes into the crockpot.  Fill with water to an inch or two above the meat and potatoes.  Add some salt (you can add more later to taste but it doesn't hurt to put a little in while its steeping all day).  Set crock pot on low and let sit for about 8 hours or so (more wouldn't hurt it)--or you could cook it on high for about 4-6 hours.  About 20 to 30 minutes before you're ready to serve add fresh or frozen cut-up green beans (depending on how crisp you like them).  Meanwhile you can pick the ham meat off the bone to add back to the pot and discard the fat, skin, and bone.  Check if you need to add more salt.

Serve in a bowl with some of the broth.  Yum, I couldn't believe how good it was (not much tastes that good with nausea).  More easy low-nausea dishes to come!

Post Holiday: Surviving Stomach Flu

HELLO!

So my long blogging silence began in part because we were gone for most of the holiday visiting family and having a great time down South.  It continued because our first week back to normal has been defined by all manner of foulness in the form of the stomach flu.  I did 8 loads of laundry this week just because of vomit (we changed sheets so many times the night Micah came down with it that I lost count).  Owen got it (mid-Micah-spewing) and they basically took turns.  They were so violently ill (Micah for number of times throwing up in a row and Owen for duration) that I became convinced that it must be food poisoning (a comforting theory only in that that would mean Jesse and I wouldn't get it). 

But last night IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM, the doctor there said that the stomach flu can't last this long.  Yes, we had to take Owen to the emergency room last night after he passed out due to dehydration, hitting the floor so hard our neighbors heard it.  OK, we do live in a double, so they were right on the other side of the wall, but still, it was loud.  (And he broke his glasses, for which I am saddened, I love them.)  Thankfully, our neighbors were then willing to babysit and help Owen down the stairs to the car.  After two bags of saline (and three long hours) in the emergency room, he was looking better. 

By tonight, the three sickies are all reasonably hydrated, with Jesse and Micah acting like themselves and Owen acting like someone who hasn't really eaten in four days.  I sincerely hope that the flu is done with our family and will not spread to our loved ones and all of the families of Micah's classmates.  I'd give our house a wide berth for at least another few days, if you live near us!

Power Bars

My sister-in-law made gluten-free power bars for me when I came to visit last summer.  And they were really, really good.  And I was really too lazy to make them for myself until I got desperate (not too much seems tempting these days with the pregnancy nausea situation, and protein is a great nausea fighter).  So I made these today and wanted to post the recipe website, along with my easier, cheaper version.

So the real recipe is at http://www.elanaspantry.com/power-bars/

Elana's recipe calls for stevia and agave nectar, though, expensive healthier sugar substitutes.  So I went with a drizzle of honey.  And it called for weird salt, and I went with regular.  And it called for 70% cocoa chocolate and I went with chocolate chips.  Anyway, it was pretty easy, you just need to have almond butter to make it (I got some at Trader Joe's a while ago, actually, and just never used it), and if you don't have coconut oil you could just put canola or something in it.

Bon Apetit!

The Fiesty Shepherds

Micah is a shepherd in his school's play.  So we had to come up with a costume for him.  And then, of course, we had to come up with a costume for the apprentice shepherd.  If they don't look like shepherds, don't tell me . . .

Bird's Nest Cookies

The kids and I just finished making our yearly "Bird's Nest Cookies."  I didn't actually realize they'd be a yearly tradition until Micah started asking in the summer if we'd be making them at Christmas again.  Bird's Nest Cookies are not "cookies," in the strictest sense of the word, they are a Val creation of uncooked blended nuts, peanut butter, smashed dates, coconut, cocoa, craisins, and raisins.  But, hey, the kids love them.  We made an assembly line after I got the nuts and dates all squished together (with a tiny bit of water to moisten things).  I put the little nests on one plate, Jesse picked them up and dipped them in coconut and/or cocoa and gave them to Micah, who put the raisin/craisin eggs on top and put them on our pretty red plate.

Saying Goodbye . . . to Homebaked Bread

It's official, we've given up on the sourdough for the duration of the nausea portion of the pregnancy (if not for the rest of the whole thing).  Owen threw it out for me this morning.  It had gotten to where I couldn't feed it anymore because the smell was too oppressive (just typing that line caused an alarming wave of nausea to pass through me).  Store-bought gluten-free bread is disgusting and really expensive, but it looks like it's that or a bread-free diet for now.  I did find that heavy nasty rice bread makes great french toast for some reason.  So I've turned about two loaves into that.  Then I just heat it up in the toaster when I want a piece.  Yum.   

A Davis Family Christmas

It's official, we're decorated!  And it's so fun having two kids so into it all.  They make sure we remember to keep the lights plugged in and they make any needed ornament adjustments.  Micah's been asking for almost a year if we could make gingerbread houses at Christmastime, so we finally got it together to make them today.  I did learn my lesson for next year--I will invest in name brand graham crackers (easier and cheaper than gingerbread, but the kind I bought break easily).

Jesse waits all day with excitement for us to do our little advent reading (he likes opening the door to get out the next piece for the manger scene), sing, blow out a candle, and eat a chocolate chip (I know, one chocolate chip is not too exciting, but they still find it thrilling at this age).  And Micah keeps checking his stocking to see if Santa came.

Seed Control by Monsanto

An interesting and disturbing video about Monsanto seed company:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6262083407501596844&hl=en#

It's about how the seed company designs our food crops around pest control chemicals and control of the seed supply.  It also explains why genetically modified foods are outlawed in England and many other places.  The source of our seed for our food crops comes from the makers of Agent Orange, genetically modified foods, and recombant bovine growth hormones (rBGH).  Go cooperate food sources!

Owen's Haircut . . .

This hairy rodent in our tub is Owen's hair trimmings, cleverly sculpted by Owen, after his home haircut given by yours truly.  He felt it was blogworthy, I don't know.  He has very thick hair.  We thought the sheer quantity of hair was fascinating because it really did look like some creature in the tub.

I Feel I Must Say . . .

So, you may have noticed that I have been posting way less than usual.  I haven't been cooking much, I've been dealing with a little nausea, I've been lethargic . . .  And no, it's not a tragic disease, although some days it feels like it.  We're pregnant!  Our third little Davis child is on the way.  It's still early, we're only 7 weeks pregnant.  And although blogging is a slightly lame announcement method, I felt the need to explain my lack of blogging. 

Part of the reason is that I often get excited to post about cooking.  Cooking and local food.  And let's just say that both of those are currently not a passion.  I had to give away all the onions I had stored up (which was a little sad because I had them all braided nicely and hanging in my kitchen) because to me they had started to produce an unbearable stench, cabbage and butternut squash are being given away (well, the squash has found a home, and I have plans for the cabbage).  All food is pretty unappealing, but local seasonal foods are especially appalling.  Sad.  Tonight I am cooking brussel sprouts in the oven and it's pretty rough enduring the smells wafting through the house. 

Anyway, if you think of the Davis family, pray for us.  We're excited, but we have a long way to go (and I have a lot of meals to prepare) before July 16th.  Love to all of my loyal readers, I'll try to write more soon.  :)

Beauty Out of Darkness

I discover that with the Christmas cactus, it pays to live in a house with northern exposure.  Maybe because it's dark it's doing well (though this seems unlikely, since I read that these originated in Brazilian rainforests, and it's a far cry from that in my kitchen)?  Anyway, it's actually blooming a little early over here, and that may be because it's dark (it's already dark as all get out in our northern exposure kitchen, so maybe my Christmas cactus assumes it is Christmas).  It's either that or benign neglect--erratic watering and no fertilizing--that is really causing it to flourish.

Merry Christmas!

Ode to the Dishwasher . . .

O, Dishwasher,

I didn't know how I cared

'til I washed that 1000th dish

after two long weeks without you

how I yearn for the sound of the doorbell

announcing the helpful local Appliance Guy

willing to work on a Saturday

O, Dishwasher

The Sourdough Saga Continues

I'm actually getting into a real routine with the sourdough bread.  Every other morning, while the kids are eating breakfast, I mix some kefir and oat and brown rice flour in with some of my starter--and a little flax meal.  I add one egg, a little baking powder, a little sugar, a little bit of salt (I know, measurements will come one day, really, I'm just not a very measury person and have been lucking out with not measuring).  I stopped adding a drizzle of olive oil because it's just so moist that I don't need to.  And I stopped adding xanthum gum because I forgot once and couldn't tell the difference.

Then I let it rise.  Some days I let it rise once, sometimes twice.  It depends when I want to bake it and whether I remembered to transfer it to the loaf pan or let it rise in the bowl (if it rose in the bowl it needs to rise again when I transfer it).  Today I let it rise twice and it took until about 4:00 until it was nice and high and ready to bake.  My dough is about doubling in size now when it rises, which is a huge improvement from my initial attempts.  It really improved exponentially when I added sugar to the starter and when I started covering the loaf pan with a lid while baking it at 450 degrees for the first half hour before baking it uncovered at 350 the second half hour. 

I'm about at the point where I think I'm going to stop buying any bread, for anyone (including the gluten eaters) because this tastes so good, is easier on digestion (the yeasts added to breads are much harder on the stomach than the natural yeasts "caught" in sourdough starters or kefir, and Micah complains of his stomach hurting if I give him too much wheat), is healthier (I'm grinding all the steel cut oats and sweet brown rice myself in the coffee grinder so it's all whole grain flour--plus I add flax meal), and does not require me to drive to the store.  Just trying to pitch the sourdough bread to any who might consider doing it, it's really good!  I can't imagine how good it would taste with wheat flour, yum!

A Pleasant Valley Sunday . . .

Having church start at 1:15 on Sunday, as we do, leaves a lovely open slot each week to have a family bonding experience.  We have started hiking every Sunday morning, and we love it. 

This picture is from Valley Forge National Historical Park (the Revolutionary War site).  It's ranked one of the top ten parks in the nation for viewing fall leaves.  We had a great time, though we did have to space out the sandwiches and apples strategically to lure some of the family members through the full two miles + (one bailed anyway, and had to be carried).  Happy hiking!

A Sad Event with a Happy Resolution

So on Wednesday, I went to replicate my sourdough successful loaf.  I put out all of my starter into a bowl as suggested by a helpful online source.  I added some flour and left it to sit out while I drove Micah to school.  I said to myself, "Self, you are really going to have to remember to take out some starter before you add egg or anything that will make it unsaveable."  Then I came back from dropping him off, on the phone (already, you see where this is going), and put an egg in it.  So I baked up all my starter and made by far my best bread yet.  Very crisp crust, extremely moist inside, sour taste (you know, like sourdough bread), perfect with the Amish farmer's market rhubarb jelly I had on hand. 

But I knew that it was going to be a while until I could make any again, seeing as I had made it impossible to save any of my starter.  Which would either end my happy trip down sourdough lane or prove that I had my starter recipe nailed down.

As soon as I had my bread all mixed up, before I even baked it, I got out a jar and added some flour and water.  I added some sugar and some kefir.  Two more times on Wednesday I fed my starter.  By Thursday it was bubbly and active.  I fed it three times a day on Thursday and Friday, too.  Today (Saturday) it was ready to make into bread.  It made more good bread!

Three things I learned:

1. My sourdough starter recipe rocks
2. NEVER empty all of the starter into a bowl
3. Keep more starter around (use a bigger jar and feed it more each time)

The smaller objects are there to offer a size-comparison for the enormous jar of starter on the left.

The Farmer and the Cowboy

Oh, the farmer and the cowman should be friends,

Oh, the farmer and the cowman should be friends.
One man likes to push a plough,
The other likes to chase a cow,
But that's no reason why they cain't be friends.

Territory folks should stick together,
Territory folks should all be pals.
Cowboys dance with farmer's daughters,
Farmers dance with the ranchers' gals.


Micah and Jesse did all right together, so I guess we're well on the way to peace between the two.  I'm just glad we could do our part.