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Sunday, October 23, 2011

Apple Fritters

Ever read a status on fb that makes your mouth water?  Special thanks to MaryEllen Naughton for inspiring this recipe:)  Originally an Amish recipe that I tweaked a little.

5-6 medium-large apples, peeled and cored...then sliced about 3/8" thick.
1c flour
2 Tbsp Sugar
scant 1c milk
1 1/2tsp baking powder
1/2tsp salt
1 egg

Once apples are prepped set to the side.
Combine dry ingredients.  Beat egg into milk, then add to dry.
Mix well.
Heat about 1" oil in frying pan.
Dip the apple slices into batter and coat well.  Put a batch into the hot oil, until brown, then turn over until brown on second side.
Serve warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar if desired.
Makes about 24 fritters.

ooh its so good:)


A year ago today...

OK, for most people this would be really weird to share.  OK...well...it's even a little weird for me.
A year ago today an amazing Dr gave George a shot at coming into this world:)  Well, George and potentially 10 siblings!  (can you imagine??) Eleven juevos were retrieved, eight were mature and then fertilized and left to "do their thing"...six continued to grow...three made it through genetic testing to make sure they had good shots at growing.  One was abnormal (could mean a million different things), one boy and one girl.  A year minus five days ago the boy and girl were put back into the baby grower...and we know who stuck!:)
Sometimes I wonder what twins would have been like...some days I can't imagine reading twice as many stories!:) lol  At the time I was really hoping for at least two extra "embabies" to freeze and do another round with in the future.  God had His plan.  So glad He gave us George....and I think George is pretty happy to be here:)  (though sometimes...I think he thinks he's one already....)


Saturday, October 22, 2011

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

I'm a big fan of Broccoli Cheddar Soup, as are the boys.  It took me MANY trials before I finally found a great recipe to recreate restaurant style Broccoli Cheddar at home.  I shall share and save the rest of you a lot of time experimenting:)

3c water
1T Chicken Base (can use 3 bullion cubes, but I find a much better flavor with the Base)
4 medium potatoes, peeled & diced (spoon friendly sizes)
1 medium onion, chopped
6-8 cups of broccoli (cut, but not minute--they will break up some in the cooking process)
1/3c butter
1/3c flour
3 1/2c milk (whole is best, 2% will suffice)
4c grated sharp cheddar cheese

Combine water and base in a large saucepan and bring to boil.  Add vegetables and simmer until tender.
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, add flour and whisk until combined.  Cook for one minute.  SLOWLY add milk.  I find it best to add about half a cup and whisk until it is incorporated completely at the start.  Once all of the milk is added let cook, stirring constantly, until thickened.  Don't rush this process, you will know when:)  Turn off burner and add cheese.  Stir until consistent in color.  Add sauce to vegeatables and stir.  Let combine and warm, but do not boil, for a few minutes.  Serve & Enjoy!

This recipe gives five to six "good" servings, worthy of a meal when combined with a simple sandwich for even the hungriest of farmers.

When heating up leftovers, add a little milk and stir:)


Friday, October 14, 2011

Spew

Newborns don't come with an instruction manual.  Sure there are a gazillion books about what you could expect, there are weekly emails to say "this is what your baby will do in the next seven days" and there are well meaning friends and relatives.  Then there are babies.  No two are alike.  Some meet those milestones when the email says they will, some do it a little later, some a lot later, and some months before the email is sent.   George falls into that last category.  He's not following one single book, email, or his big brother.
At four weeks he started rolling over, at five weeks he had a tooth, at ten weeks a second.  He loves story time and now holds the books.  He pulls toys off his toy bar.  Sits pretty well when slightly supported.  etc etc...
This is not about what he can do.  It's about what he can't.
George is a spewer.  In the nicest way I can describe this, until Monday every liquid he's been given comes back.  Some quicker than others, but they all came back.  I'm married to a dairy farmer, if spew grossed me out I'd need a new life!:)  This isn't your normal run of the mill spit up...no sir.  This is spew.  It creates puddles on the floor if you're quick enough to aim him away from you, or puddles in your cleavage if you're not.  (aren't you glad you know that?)  This is not, as his doctor and I discussed, merely a "laundry issue" this is serious.
It's been a very fun filled few months trying to get to the root of this.
We started off on the boob.  Which lasted till day 4.  Small mouth.  That's all I'll share.
Started pumping.
The more he drank, the more he spewed.  Must be the green beans.  cut them.  Maybe the broccoli? cut them.  Dairy? cut (not easy, but cut).  So we changed nipples three times, bottles three times and nipples on the new bottles at least twice.  Some seemed to have a little change, but in the end there was still spew.
Off to the Doc for input.  Let's try a soy formula and do an ultrasound on his stomach.  He could have pyloric stenosis (a narrowing of the "emptying tube" from the stomach).  Nope that's clear.  Let him adjust to the soy.  Okay great.
Let's visit the dentist to get that tooth looked at.  Yea sure, a tooth, but also a tongue tie and a tight lip (re-read day 4-small mouth).  In office laser surgery.  Stretching his tongue and lip 4x/day. (Did I mention how strong he is?)  He's now a quieter eater...but it still comes back.
Infant Chiropractic works wonders on reflux issues.  Wonderful.  Let's go.  No adverse reactions, a few visits...maybe a little better? but alas, it comes back.
Somewhere around month two (it's all a blur), I heard that cereal in the bottle can help it stay down.  Game for anything, he needs to eat.  Guess what?  It comes back up thicker.  (Which also required MORE new nipples.)  Hmm.
Google oh google.  "Bottle thickening is bad, if they need it feed it on a spoon"  really?  he's so little?  what about the tongue thrust thing? what about his little digestive system?  what about we were waiting till 6 months?  Oh fine...he's hungry, lets try.  Wouldn't you know...it stays down.  Tongue thrust? what's that?  Non existent in this child.  So once every few days some cereal and applesauce.  On those "extra spewey days"
2 month visit: 14lb 2oz.  Okay, he must be keeping enough of it down.  Just a BIG laundry issue.
Joey's physical over 2 weeks later...under 14lb with a diaper and clothes on.
OK, not laundry.  He's not keeping enough down.  Time to step up the game.
He can't live on rice cereal and applesauce.  So we introduce new foods.  Green beans--not a fan.  Bananas--he would eat them every meal.  Peas, ok with bananas in the right proportion.  Baby oatmeal, fine.   Mommy makes REAL oatmeal finer--super score.  Squash--home run.  OK great, so he's keeping this down, and seems to be growing.  But I think he's eating too much.  Engage hyper-research-nutritionist mode.  That boy needs to cut back on bananas.  (100 cals per 1/2 cup!  and yes, he'd eat 1/2c with 1/2c of oatmeal!)  But, he's too little to go straight solids. PLUS he'll get dehydrated at some point.
What do I do?
So in trying to balance the right vitamins, minerals, calories, fat, etc I read the ingredient label on the soy formula.  Mother of God!  The widely distributed soy formula is made with 55% corn syrup solids!  24% Vegetable oil!  I wouldn't let Joey eat that!  Holy crap!  Why didn't I read this sooner?  Gross.  I suppose I'd spew it too:)  (After chiro, tongue, etc etc, we would introduce the breast milk as there is a great deal in my freezer, but to similar results.)
In all my research there isn't one kid who doesn't tolerate some kind of formula or breast milk.  Mine would be the one.  (For formulas we tried: regular, newborn, fussy/gassy, soy, and hypoallergenic.)
Raw milk.
Really?  Yes.  Many people who are lactose intolerant, can handle raw milk.  Why you ask?  Raw milk is a rather perfect food.  Vitamin for vitamin, calorie for calorie, mineral for mineral on paper it's the same as formula.  In reality, it's not engineered.  The vitamins and minerals are metabolically available.  All of the essential enzymes for building your body, are in milk.  Including the one that breaks down the lactose.  When the milk is pasteurized many of these enzymes are history.
But what about the bacteria?  I'm in a very unique position.  I live with the farmer.  He can tell me if any of the cows are sick, he, his father, or our older son are the ones who clean the teats, the milking system is sanitized twice a day, and the milk comes out of the tank and is driven home.  Actually his first bottle of raw milk was consumed minutes after being released from the tank.  I have no concerns over the product.  If we did, this wouldn't have been an option.
It was free to try.
The first 24 hours I almost stalked that baby waiting for spew.  A little with a burp, and a little when I gave him 8 oz instead of 6ish (mom error).  I will not go into detail, but the output in the diaper has increased significantly.  Proving there's more going in.  His appetite for his "solids meal" is about half.  It's also been reduced to once a day and about 80 calories.
This morning, I dressed him at 8:00...he had a bottle a nap, went in the car and the truck and when Daddy was eating his lunch...he was CLEAN!  Amazing!  Also, far more content.  Actually more alert than he was, which was pretty intense.  Since he's not busy spewing we've had more play time, more attempts at "tummy time" which in reality are "I'll stay on my tummy for a minute or so, but then I'll roll over."
Most importantly he can use this wonderful perfect natural food to grow, he can tolerate his feeds, have an age appropriate amount of variety, and not be dehydrated.  As bonuses, there's less laundry, I don't smell like calf grain, and we're raising him on a wholesome diet.

As a disclaimer: Yes, I think breast is best.  Yes, I'm totally for delaying solids.  (I even bought a non-reclining high chair a year ago.)  No, I don't think this is the answer for everyone, nor for anyone else.  It's just our story of what is working for our child at this moment.  Don't hate, just love:)

Friday, October 7, 2011

On penny pinching and laundry...

Just when I think I have the budget down to the bare bones...sometimes I need to make more cuts. But where? Sometimes it gets a little stressful agonizing over numbers.
Of course that darn electric bill doesn't help any, average of $3.48/day last September...average of $5.00/day this September. If only there were room here for a windmill.
So where do we cut now? How about in the laundry room? I just did that. In June I switched to a new laundry soap called Ecovantage, one small container was $40, but lasted 2 days short of 4 months. Average monthly cost of $10. I don't keep track of how many loads of laundry I do per day/week/month. I would average about eight to ten per week. Let's say 10, times 4.3 (average weeks/month. 43 loads/month times 4 months, 172 loads for $40. 23cents per load. Not bad, and it did a good job of getting both nasty farm clothes and less than desirable baby diapers clean.
I also switched to using Vinegar in the rinse cycle in place of fabric softener. That costs about $2/month. Huge savings there and the clothes do not smell like vinegar:)
So I started researching alternatives, because there are always alternatives. I've seen the episode where the Duggars made their own laundry soap and this is what I stumbled upon when I started researching. As I told Wayne, they have 19 children that always look clean, it's worth a shot. So off I went to gather the ingredients. Borax (I had some, but couldn't remember how much was left/how much I needed), Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and a bar of Fels Naptha soap. I figured I would check Walmart first and there they were, all lined up next to each other. I must not be the only one in Saratoga County embarking on this adventure. The total spent on these products was $6.50. I repurposed the cat food 5 gallon pail in my house (we're almost out of cat food anyway). I actually made the whole thing while on the phone with my mom, super simple to do. Grate the Fels Naptha--in the food processor, it looked like neon cheddar:) melt that in 4c water on the stove then mix with more water and the powders. If I spend $4 more I can make 4 more batches of this. Which would produce 320 washes per batch. or 1600 washes for $10.50 or 6/10 of one cent per load!!! Holy smokes!
That's great, but does it work? Indeed it does. The diapers are not only clean, but also a lot softer. They are a fleece material inside so this can be attributed to a better rinse/less build up of cleaners. They are also a bit brighter. Wayne brought home, on his person, a really gross pair of pants the other day (he was moving calves...) guess what? they came out clean...well it didn't remove old grease stains, but the pants were clean. As for the smell, they smell clean without being over-perfumed. We're not dealing with any additives, dyes or perfumes. Making it safe for both sensitive skin as well as cloth diaper friendly.

In related news...I love cloth diapers. I'm so glad to not be shelling out $50/month, that I don't have, on diapers (based on sale/coupon prices). Not to mention these are so soft, so cozy, so simple.

and since I'm in cheapista mode...baby food!
Did you know that $1.46 worth of fresh bananas is the equivalent of $10.46 worth of baby food bananas! OMG!!!! Outrageous. If I didn't already have a food processor, do you realize how quick it would be paid for? (best Christmas present ever) I'd go broke in a big hurry feeding this kiddo!:)

Oh, and back to that electric bill. Did you know you have a choice of suppliers in NY? (and some other states also) I researched, we're with the cheapest one...of course:) Worth the investigation however.