Do Vegans Eat Animal Crackers?

Have you ever watched Babette's Feast? It is a strange, older movie that is basically about food and cooking. The eponymous feast basically changes the lives of the dinner guests. For someone who loves cooking as much as I do, it should have been a joy to watch - except that it actually shows the animals before and during preparation. Umm, no thanks. It was enough to make me seriously consider turning vegetarian.
Which brings us to the title of my post. How do vegans make sure they get enough calcium? At my daughter's most recent doctor's appointment, the doctor scolded me for not making sure my daughter gets enough calcium. Until recently, just about the only way I could get my daughter to drink milk was to serve them with bunny-shaped graham crackers. I will be getting her some multivitamins so she gets enough calcium, but I am also going to look for alternative sources of calcium.

(Not the)Swine Flu

This week I got sick. Fever sick. As you know, moms aren't allowed to get sick, so when they do all hell breaks loose. And so it was at our house. No clean diapers were to be found anywhere and hastily changed dirty diapers were everywhere else. Gross.

Fortunately, my illness only lasted 24 hours, but with everyone worried about the swine flu, I made sure to go to the doctor. They took a culture and advised me to wait until I had the results to resume my routine. So now we are self-imposed social pariahs and have to entertain ourselves in a way that doesn't pose a public health risk. With little ones that can be hard, so yesterday we went bird-watching. Yes, it is as boring as it sounds.

I have checked the symptoms of swine flu and we don't have most of them. The kids are sick, so I am guessing it's not a big deal. In the interest of keeping all the other moms well, I think today we will go on a hike today and just yell,"Unclean!" if we see anyone.

On Gardening

I finally got around to my spring planting. All my other plants had died, so I had to do something.
I planted bell peppers, tomatoes, japanese eggplant, and cantaloupe. I also planted some herbs and onions, which I have never tried. Planting from seeds, I mean. I have tried onions and herbs. Duh.

Last year when I planted my vegetable garden, my daughter was too young to be picky about the food she ate. She was just beginning to eat solids, so she pretty much ate whatever I put in front of her. Now that she is old enough to be picky, I have had to come up with tricky ways to get her to eat vegetables. I haven't started sneaking them into brownies, but I have found several ways to make them tastier. The best are carrot fries. See the recipe below.

Carrot Fries
Slice carrots in half, then quarter lengthwise.
Toss in bowl with olive oil, 1 tsp. thyme, and 1 tsp. salt
Bake on cookie sheet in oven for 15-20 mins, depending on the thickness of the carrot slices, at 425 degrees.

I'm Back...

Since I last wrote, I am the proud parent of a two week old son and 16 month old daughter. It is oh so crazy around here, but even more fun than I dared hope. Children are always a good dose of perspective and laughter. And wondering how in the world you are going to do anything, when a shower seems like the most impossible task ever. I am very proud for having a shower(complete with shampoo) every other day since I have been home.

As I was thinking back to why I started this blog, I realized that I intended to write a lot more about gardening, cooking, and "slow food", than simply being a parent. There are lots of moms and lots of mom blogs and like them I need a creative outlet. My personal outlet has always revolved around food, so I have decided to get back to basics. Before the baby was born, I cooked three weeks worth of frozen dinners and put my CSA subscription on hold. Necessary, but boy did I miss it.

So in the spirit of MFK Fisher and Alice Waters, I will be focusing on simple and seasonal foods and recipes. Since my Martha Stewart Living magazine arrived, I have decided that the new title should be "Simple Ways to Make Your Life Much More Complicated." See below for my recipe for spinach that almost everyone(including 16 month olds) will like.

5 Minute Spinach
Ingredients
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 green onions
1 lb spinach
Zest of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt to taste


Chop and cook onions in olive oil in large pot. Add spinach and cook until wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon zest and vinegar. Salt to taste. Serve hot or cold.

With an Accent

My sister moved to the UK and now has an accent. Not exactly a British one - it is more of a cross between a New Zealand and Canadian accent - but it makes her sound more glamorous all the same. I think when I am having one of those "lost the will to live" exhausted days, I will speak with an accent. Maybe a French one. Heck, my whole family just got over the stomach flu, so I will be effecting an accent at playgroup today for sure.

Since we all need a little more glamour in our lives, check out one of my new favorite blogs. The Glamorous Life Association

Preschool

For me, one of the very wonderful things about not living in Manhattan was the low-key approach to schooling. I say was, because apparently all of us left coast parents have decided that we aren't cool enough unless we also take a cutthroat approach to education. Preschool - which by very definition seems to be about what kids do before they go to school, is now very competitive. It is not nearly as bad as New York, but I hear all the time about parents signing their kids up before they are even born. At many schools, there is a 2 year waiting list.

To me, this seems ridiculous, but in general I have a very relaxed approach to parenting and education. Maybe it's because I was homeschooled for part of my education, but it seems to me there are many different ways for kids to learn. Regardless, I too have jumped on the waiting list bandwagon and have found a trick to avoid getting left behind when my daughter turns 3. What is it? Sorry, you'll have to figure it out on your own.

Support La Dolce Mama in the 2009 StartupNation Leading Moms in Business Competition

Support La Dolce Mama in the 2009 StartupNation Leading Moms in Business Competition

Posted using ShareThis

Bread

I made bread this morning. Not in a bread machine, but purely from scratch. I consider myself a pretty confident cook and baker, but bread is something I have never quite gotten. Bread is like wine, in that "yeasty" is never a good adjective to have in the same sentence. Although, I suppose yeasty is never a good adjective, period.

It makes me wonder how our grandmothers and great-grandmothers ever made bread, when I have a KitchenAid mixer and a well-functioning oven and still can't manage dough that will rise right. Never mind that I had a sick 1 year old running around the kitchen and bringing me books to read - the challenges of a wood- burning stove or absence of stand mixers seems a greater challenge. Perhaps I should wear an apron and affect a pioneer accent, next time.

Either way, bread from scratch has gone on the list of things to perfect before I die. It's a good thing the other items on the list like "Go skydiving" and "Get scuba certification" absolutely require technology, or I would have a long road ahead of me.

Preparing for Spring

Yes, I am nesting. The house is as clean as it ever gets, I am compulsively labeling, painting and working my way through household chores. I am excited about getting my garden for spring. I love organic and home-grown vegetables and flowers, but I have to reign it in a bit. If you like gardening, check out Heirloom Acres Seeds

Change!

New years are always about change - 2009 more so than most. As our shiny New Year's Resolutions begin to tarnish, we are still being called to better ourselves with the focus on the changes in civil rights and the presidency and without a strong economy to help us spend away our introspection. However, with all the fog outside my window this morning, things are just a little too serious for me. Instead, I am going to thnk about change in terms of that which is in my pockets, sofa cushions, and bottom of my purse.

January 19th - Resolutions for the day -
Clean the house and find enough change for a latte(Optimistic for Starbucks, maybe, but I haven't cleaned my office in awhile)
Change the order of meals and have breakfast for dinner

That should take care of the gloom. The world-changing resolutions will have to wait until tomorrow.

Two Kids Under Two

I never thought I would have kids.
I didn't particularly like them and as the oldest of a large family, I well know how much work they are.

Life happens, however, and the decisions that I made in the past for my future stopped making sense once I got there. Somehow along the way, two kids under two(heck under 1 1/2) sounded like a fabulous idea. Do I regret it? No way. If I ever stop moving, or even slow down, I feel that life is passing me by. Yes, I am crazy like that. But, oh so much fun.

Today somewhere between chasing my first child, feeling the baby kick the heck out of me, and weeding the yard, it finally dawned on me just how much "living" I will be doing very, very soon. I could freak out or I could have a mocha. I am going for the mocha.