Eating Well
I'm finally feeling a bit better. This was probably the worst FM/CFS flare-up I've had that wasn't triggered by something like a car accident since we got married.
I've been enjoying cooking again lately. For a while I felt like I was getting tired of cooking from scratch all the time. When we found out Baby E's allergies were gone I had a harder time making myself do it, since alternatives were available.
Last night the older kids had an activity we had to take them to, so DH and I couldn't go out for Valentine's Day. So, while DH dropped them off, I cooked a special meal at home.
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I simmered some boneless skinless chicken thighs and a handful of baby carrots in a mixture of water and mango-papaya salsa, with a little orange juice and a drizzle of honey, a splash of white wine and a sprinkling of salt for flavor.
I made a delicious salad out of mixed baby lettuces and micro-greens (things like tiny kale, cabbage, bok choy and broccoli leaves), garnished with raw sunflower seeds, grape tomatoes, tangerine slices and shredded raw milk sharp provolone cheese. (For some reason--probably because of the living enzymes--I'm able to tolerate a small amount of raw or cultured dairy products.) With a little lemon-chive dressing, the salad was extraordinarily tasty. I'm going to make more for lunch with the kids today.
I served the chicken and sauce over rice with a little more of the salsa spooned over the top, and a side of broccoli. DH and I really enjoyed our dinner. Since Baby E had already eaten dinner earlier, she was mostly content to play or watch a video while we ate.
Right now I have beef bones roasting in the oven to make bone broth, and a large beef roast thawed in the refrigerator. I'm going to put the roast in the crock pot to cook ahead for meals this weekend.
Tonight we will be preparing an Indian meal to finish off our study of India, and my parents and sister will be joining us. That will be fun. I haven't decided for sure what all I'm going to make yet--something with chicken. We did buy some whole wheat Naan yesterday, and I have Garam Masala in my cupboard. If anyone has any great (not-too-terribly-spicy) Indian recipes to recommend, let me know.
As for school, it's going well. I was going to let M&M go ahead and start the next math book, but as we started learning to count by 5s I realized that she needed some remedial work on counting over 20. She understands things like addition, subtraction, comparisons, weights and measures but she gets a bit mixed up in her counting after she gets to 29. So we're taking a break from the math book to just work with her daily on counting to 100 by ones, tens and fives. That's one of the wonderful things about homeschooling: if she were in regular school she wouldn't be able to take a week out and work on filling in a gap instead of continuing to move ahead when she was being hampered by needing more work on a foundational concept.
The kids are enjoying their new phonics and vocabulary workbooks. They are buzzing through multipe lessons at a time, but seem to be retaining what they learn.
Baby E is fully potty trained now, even at night, though we still have her wear a Pull-Up when we're going out somewhere and might not be near a restroom. She was weaned for about a week, but was still so miserable at that point that I decided to go back to the coin system and let her nurse about twice a day, while still offering incentives for her to choose not to nurse.
I've finally discovered something Baby E will drink that's not thickened juice: kefir. She really likes kefir, and it's even already thickened. So she's getting that 2-3 times a day. M&M likes it, too. AJ is still avoiding dairy products (although she does eat sheep's milk cheese), so I make her "kefir" out of rice milk with probiotics added.
I really think that getting so much good bacteria in things like kefir, yogurt, kombucha, etc. has been instumental in her growing out of her allergies and her current growing tolerance for sugars in things like fruits. We're still trying to avoid refined sugars and other highly-refined/processed foods as much as possible for the whole family, just because they're so unhealthy.
We all went to the dentist yesterday, and the news was not so good. Baby E's teeth looked good, thankfully, but I had 5 cavities, AJ had 3, and M&M had one. I don't know if DH had any or not--I forgot to ask him.
We are going to continue working with the kids on good flossing and brushing habits, and I'm also trying to add more mineral-dense foods like bone broth, organ meats, microgreens, etc. to our diet.
It's a good thing that healthy food tastes good!
I've been enjoying cooking again lately. For a while I felt like I was getting tired of cooking from scratch all the time. When we found out Baby E's allergies were gone I had a harder time making myself do it, since alternatives were available.
Last night the older kids had an activity we had to take them to, so DH and I couldn't go out for Valentine's Day. So, while DH dropped them off, I cooked a special meal at home.
########################
I simmered some boneless skinless chicken thighs and a handful of baby carrots in a mixture of water and mango-papaya salsa, with a little orange juice and a drizzle of honey, a splash of white wine and a sprinkling of salt for flavor.
I made a delicious salad out of mixed baby lettuces and micro-greens (things like tiny kale, cabbage, bok choy and broccoli leaves), garnished with raw sunflower seeds, grape tomatoes, tangerine slices and shredded raw milk sharp provolone cheese. (For some reason--probably because of the living enzymes--I'm able to tolerate a small amount of raw or cultured dairy products.) With a little lemon-chive dressing, the salad was extraordinarily tasty. I'm going to make more for lunch with the kids today.
I served the chicken and sauce over rice with a little more of the salsa spooned over the top, and a side of broccoli. DH and I really enjoyed our dinner. Since Baby E had already eaten dinner earlier, she was mostly content to play or watch a video while we ate.
Right now I have beef bones roasting in the oven to make bone broth, and a large beef roast thawed in the refrigerator. I'm going to put the roast in the crock pot to cook ahead for meals this weekend.
Tonight we will be preparing an Indian meal to finish off our study of India, and my parents and sister will be joining us. That will be fun. I haven't decided for sure what all I'm going to make yet--something with chicken. We did buy some whole wheat Naan yesterday, and I have Garam Masala in my cupboard. If anyone has any great (not-too-terribly-spicy) Indian recipes to recommend, let me know.
As for school, it's going well. I was going to let M&M go ahead and start the next math book, but as we started learning to count by 5s I realized that she needed some remedial work on counting over 20. She understands things like addition, subtraction, comparisons, weights and measures but she gets a bit mixed up in her counting after she gets to 29. So we're taking a break from the math book to just work with her daily on counting to 100 by ones, tens and fives. That's one of the wonderful things about homeschooling: if she were in regular school she wouldn't be able to take a week out and work on filling in a gap instead of continuing to move ahead when she was being hampered by needing more work on a foundational concept.
The kids are enjoying their new phonics and vocabulary workbooks. They are buzzing through multipe lessons at a time, but seem to be retaining what they learn.
Baby E is fully potty trained now, even at night, though we still have her wear a Pull-Up when we're going out somewhere and might not be near a restroom. She was weaned for about a week, but was still so miserable at that point that I decided to go back to the coin system and let her nurse about twice a day, while still offering incentives for her to choose not to nurse.
I've finally discovered something Baby E will drink that's not thickened juice: kefir. She really likes kefir, and it's even already thickened. So she's getting that 2-3 times a day. M&M likes it, too. AJ is still avoiding dairy products (although she does eat sheep's milk cheese), so I make her "kefir" out of rice milk with probiotics added.
I really think that getting so much good bacteria in things like kefir, yogurt, kombucha, etc. has been instumental in her growing out of her allergies and her current growing tolerance for sugars in things like fruits. We're still trying to avoid refined sugars and other highly-refined/processed foods as much as possible for the whole family, just because they're so unhealthy.
We all went to the dentist yesterday, and the news was not so good. Baby E's teeth looked good, thankfully, but I had 5 cavities, AJ had 3, and M&M had one. I don't know if DH had any or not--I forgot to ask him.
We are going to continue working with the kids on good flossing and brushing habits, and I'm also trying to add more mineral-dense foods like bone broth, organ meats, microgreens, etc. to our diet.
It's a good thing that healthy food tastes good!
Labels: food, just life, learning
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Posted by purple_kangaroo at 10:26 AM[Permanent link]
4 Comments:
I love kefir on my cereal in the morning. Unfortunately the store where I shop has stopped carrying it, so I'm going to have to look around to get more.
I remember forgetting the word "thirty" when I had to count in front of my teacher in kindergarten. I understood the concept perfectly well, but "thirty" just didn't sound enough like "three!" I was so embarrassed!
Rev Dr. Mom, I've found good kefir (without FOS or inulin added) at Trader Joe's and at a little Russian grocery.
Heike, you're right, it doesn't really sound like three--and fifteen and twenty are confusing for the same reason.
Kefir is great stuff! I got my own culture through a kefir network I found online and it's grown enough to split twice in six months, so I've "converted" two friends. I'm glad you are feeling better.
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