The Last Light Burning

Dessert Anyone?

A Birthday Cake and Cider

Traditional Baptism Cake

Leeks, Sardines and Other Odd Foods

We love to eat, we plan our days around cooking for each meal, food means serious business in our house. I imagine if you have tuned in to any of my posts in the past year or so you perhaps might have gleaned this info along the way.

I also think about food. I mean I think about food a lot; things like; "Is baking the best way to cook this? How about making that over the flames in the fireplace? What if I added raw honey instead of white or even brown sugar? How about Stevia or maple syrup?" I also have to wonder, with the number of allergies and food sensitivities that we have; "what will make granola crunchy if I omit the nuts and the corn syrup? How can I make a gluten-free taco pie? Will rice milk work in chocolate chip cookies?" and last, but not least; "how can I include more healthy ingredients in what we eat? Would they notice the flax seed in the smoothie or the spinach in the quiche? Will they eat organic, baked chips?"

I will be talking about ingredients that don't always make the top ten list in American kitchens. I will start out with very simple recipes and move on from there. I will have vegetarian and meat dishes both, as we respectfully consume poultry and meat that comes from animals that have lived good lives in our house. I am having fun already.

So, I am happy to see so many of you have joined me on this food adventure. Get ready for a great journey. We'll share recipes and secrets and enjoy happier, healthier lives while we're at it. Here's to you! (Toasted with a fine glass of Bordeaux, 1988.)

Let's Talk Food

Inspired by a discussion began on The Itchy Homeschooler, I thought it would be a fun challenge to introduce the topic of healthy eating, or even just plain food, real food. In her post, Marlis talks about how out of the ordinary it has become to see a shopping cart filled with fruits, vegetables, beans and meat these days. In fact, it was so exceptional, that an elderly lady complimented her husband on his healthy habits. (My husband would have said she was flirting with him, had he been in his shoes, but then again, he's French.)

We have the same problem at the check-out that other people mentioned in the above post; the cashiers never know the names of our "exotic" vegetables like leeks, swiss chard or belgian endive. So why are we buying such weird food anyway? Do our kids eat this stuff? Sit down with a cup of tea (or red wine if it's past five), and enjoy the food adventure that is about to begin. If you eat real food or are on the road to doing so again, join in the discussion and share your thoughts. It may not sound easy, but it is worth every second of your time for the way you'll feel and the state of your future health.

When we lived in France, we ate French food, of course. Well, after I learned to cook, that is. Before that, we ate pasta, omelettes and Chinese food because that's all we knew how to make. I went to the farmer's market twice a week to shop for fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and meat and picked up things like flour, milk, yogurt and spices at the supermarket. I bought rice, soy sauce, bean sprouts and fresh litchis at the Chinese grocery shop.

When we moved to the States, childhood favorite convenience food came naturally to fill in the holes in my noon menu. We would have canned soup, fish sticks, frozen pizza, peanut butter and even hot dogs during the week days. A number of years ago, I came to the conclusion that we needed to stop all preservatives, which meant no more processed food of any kind. Ugh, "so much more cooking", is what it felt like. However, once we chose to walk that path, it became habit, just normal instead of drudgery. So much is in your attitude. We became healthier and our budget a little leaner. We continue to refine our diet, removing much of the sugar, eat a lot less grains, less dairy and more vegetables. Saturday is still pizza night and I still bake, just less often.

In this spirit, I thought I would offer easy recipes for those just starting out cooking for themselves and for those in search of a new meal idea, aren't we all? Please share your own meal ideas, my menu is starting to look old!

A word on planning; this is what works for my family. Please take the ideas that work for you and leave the rest. We have five children and little time to think about what to cook twice a day, so it works to have a weekly menu on the side of the fridge that we cook from. We use that menu to write a list each week for the grocery store. We usually pick up milk and produce another time during the week.

As for the children, there are a few things that help to form or reform their eating habits. Example is one. If both parents are on the same page, i.e. no one is advocating, buying or making extra food, it makes it easier. The other is household content. If your house does not CONTAIN any other food, they might eventually give up and eat the healthy food that is available, then again...some kids are very stubborn and very creative, you'll have to rise to the challenge of being equally creative, but not necessarily stubborn.

The first recipe is in the next post.

Astronomy Class

We love to hang out on the roof. Not the big ol' steep roof of the house, the smaller, gentler one over the garage. You can step out the window of one of the bedrooms and see the whole sky. It's perfectly safe because there is a flat roof adjoining it (for anyone inclined to worry...grandpa).

Once in awhile we go out on the roof, when there is a full moon or a night of shooting stars. We are in the midst of an astronomy block at our house, so it was a must. This time it was to see October's full moon, what a beautiful night for stargazing!

It's Past my Bedtime AND I'm on the Roof!

Stargazing

Time to Focus

Keeping Puppy Warm

Culture Kits

We had so much fun discovering our culture kit that it deserves another mention here. These are kits that some libraries own that can be checked out for a week or two, that are full of memorabilia from one country. The Russian one contained what you see in the photos below, plus story books in English and Russian, school books in Russian, posters, video cassettes and all sorts of shoes. It is a great beginning to the study of another culture.

We spent the week reading legends and stories from Russia and planning for our festival. The piano players in the family learned a Russian tune on the piano and the friends who joined us played us one as well. The only food I could think of as definitely Russian and easy to find were blinis and caviar (no one was old enough for vodka). I apologize to my Russian friends for being so very uneducated on Russian cuisine, but time was a little short that week, so my research in that department had been aborted.

Well, the caviar was easy, but blinis were not to be found in the local supermarkets with as much ease as I'd remembered. I spent half an hour walking the aisles with three different gentlemen from three different departments searching for, "what was that again? blankies? baninis? are them like tortillas?" They all clearly thought I was off my rocker and needed help of another kind than that they could give, but I stuck to my story, no one called the authorities and in the end, I gave up and bought a gluten-free crepe/pancake mix instead.

We made them at home from scratch. My friend Elizabeth and I stood at the stove making blini after blini, from a recipe I'd found online. We had a feast and lots of fun.

PS. Note on culture kits and your library. Apparently, after the initial enthusiasm for these tools back in the 90's, the librarians endorsement of them faded, as the task of checking in over a hundred individual items grew old. You may need to ask the librarian very nicely if they are available for check-out. Thank you to my friend, Joyce, a veteran homeschooler, for sharing her knowledge of the kits and many other topics as well.

My Baby Girl Turns Nine

Alienor is not the baby of the family, but she is my little girl, and it still seems she should be about ten months old, toddling all over, a cherubic smile on her sweet face. Well, she grew. She is now a kind, considerate, spirited little girl. A big hug and kisses to you, my darling, happy birthday!

Happy Birthday, Alienor!

The Russian Culture KIt