Slow Food

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I have never heard of this woman named Alice Waters...but she sounds wonderful. I love everything she stands for and believes in. I hope this way of thinking sweeps the country! Yippy for President Obama for putting in that organic veggie garden! I found this video from a blog called Food Renegade from the Real Food Media website. The blogs listed on the website are WONDERFUL! I can't wait to dig in and start reading them.

I caught the fever of the traditional whole food mindset a couple of years ago and have slowly been dabbling in it. It is true that people are truly brainwashed to believe that this lifestyle is too hard or impossible. So not true. I feel that most people are unhealthy because they eat junk. Let's go back to how God intended our food to be.

Let's teach our children from an early age to grow as much food as they can themselves and and make better choices in what they buy. You can eat economically this way with a little preparation and planning. You can actually find some organic food for the the same price or even sometimes less if you look. I just joined a group where a lady is teaching us all the tricks of using coupons. I'm finding lots of coupons for organic products which will save me even more!! Cooking things from scratch with healthy ingredients can be much cheaper than eating out at fast food restaurants or buying unhealthy boxed chemical laden foods.

Please don't freak out when you hear the words "from scratch." It sounds horrifying to some people. I did not grow up eating this way at all and no one sat down and taught me. I am slowly teaching myself a little at a time. Don't do it all at once! Do one thing at a time and once that habit is established, add on another one....take it slowly...baby steps! Trust me I still eat out and eat junk food sometimes...I just have a rule that I *try* not to bring it into the house.

The interviewer in the video makes a big deal about the fact that Alice does not have a microwave....well neither do I, and I have not missed it. I am learning to make my own "fast food" by cooking things we eat a lot of in big batches and freezing them. Like yesterday I made a big batch of chicken stock, used some to make soup and then froze the rest for later use! The other day my husband paid me such a compliment by saying that my meals have been tasting so wonderful lately! I told him...it's all in the homemade stock! And really.....it's so cheap to make...You just use your leftover chicken bones and throw in some veggies!!! So healthy for you and makes your house smell great while it is simmering all day!

What's the big deal in waiting an extra 10-15 min for something to be heated up in the oven or in a saucepan, as opposed to the 1-2 min nuke in the microwave. I'll take my nutrient dense food wait over the one min dead food any day of the week!

Yes busy moms, it is possible! It won't hurt your kids to wait a little extra for healthier food. Kids need to learn more patience these days and not have instant gratification all the time anyway :) Or if you're really in a bind and they are screaming, "Mom I'm hungry I can't wait!".... and you just can't take it anymore..try giving them some of God's fast food, you know an apple, banana, glass of healthy milk. Boiled eggs are a really cheap and very healthy snack or meal! I keep a bowl of them in my fridge for ready made snacks!

Farm and Gardening!

Since everyone in the world (it seems) is on spring break this week AND since we all have spring fever so bad...I have decided to do some light homeschooling. My mom is planning on taking Callie and James camping for a couple of days this week while I stay home and spring clean and organize.



Today we had a nice time visiting a friend at her farm! She is selling free range eggs that we are going to start getting! They are so yummy! Much better tasting and healthier than store bought eggs. We had so much fun petting all the animals. They have: horses, chickens, goats, ducks, bunnies, pigs, turkeys, cats, and a dog. Whew..I think that is all.



Then we came home and the kids played in the backyard while I planted some seeds in the garden. Last week I planted: lettuce, sugar snap peas, green beans, radishes, morning glories, sunflowers, and zinnias. Today I planted more radishes, spinach, and carrots. I started seeing my first lettuce sprouts poking through the soil today!!!



This year we are doing the square foot gardening technique. In the past we have always done the rows...so we will see how this goes. We also have some earthboxes that we put things in....usually all our tomatoes. I'm really excited about all the new things I'm going to try this year. I have always just planted everything all at once...but this year for the veggies that do well with this...I will be planting new seeds every two weeks so we will have a more spread out harvest! I also plan to plant: cantaloupe, eggplant, cucumbers, okra, and do tons of various herbs!! It just thrills me to work outdoors in nature and watch my garden grow!

Callie's 8th Birthday

We had a wonderful time celebrating Callie's 8th birthday at the Rainforest Cafe in Dallas. Oma, Grandad, Aunt Martha, Uncle David, Max and Kyla were there with us to party!

Callie and her volcano cake, minus the sparklers!

Aunt Martha, Justin, & Callie

Cheryl and the gang

GRRRRRR!

All the cousins!

I love frogs!!!

Healthy Traditions

I've started yet another blog. Yes, in an effort to find more order in my life I have to put all the subjects of my life in nice neat little blogs. That just makes more sense to me. So my new blog is all about cooking and is called Healthy Traditions. I plan to document all my fun little "experiments" that I try from the book, Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon. Basically it's all about whole food, traditional cooking. Lots of flour soaking, yogurt making, seed sprouting, and sauerkraut fermenting kinda stuff. Not your boring old recipes!

James and I made popcorn today....you can see the post here!

Lost Tooth and Prayers

James lost his first tooth this month! He was so excited that this meant he was getting older. He has also recently learned to whistle! I remember how mad he was that he could not whistle like Callie and then all of a sudden one day his little whistle came out. Oh how he danced around the room. And now today I heard him whistling "Oh what a beautiful morning" to Clovie our parakeet in perfect tune.

I just had to come back and write the sweet little prayer that James gave tonight: "Dear Lord, thank you for my family, thank you for this beautiful world you created, for the rainbows, the light, the dark, thank you for sending your son, Jesus, thank you for the hot and the cold, AMEN!" I need to start writing down his prayers because sometimes it can really amaze me what can come out of that sweet little mind. Like once he said we needed to pray for his future wife....like WOW...that coming from a 5 year old! I was awestruck!

While I'm on the subject of prayers, this made me think of how Joshua's prayers have evolved and I wanted to write it down before I forget! I have always said a good night prayer with him every night. Slowly over time he started saying parts of the prayer himself, like just the AMEN part. Then he would say the same memorized prayer each night like, "Dear God, thank you for Mommy, Daddy, Callie, James, Joshua, AMEN" Then I remember one night he said his very own prayer...I mean...he thought it himself! I was so excited...and this was the prayer: "Dear God, Thank you (for) Burger King! Amen! We had eaten at Burger King that day and it must have really made an impression on him. HA! And then another time he prayed, "Dear God, thank you (for) Chuckie Cheese! AMEN! HA! HA! Yes he likes to eat!

Now each night he says his prayer and he goes on and on talking to God and I can't understand half of what he says, but I'm smiling in my heart....knowing that I planted the seed of his relationship with our Lord!!!