Mei Tai Baby Carrier

I made my first home-made baby carrier when Sarah was a little over 2 months old. My utilitarian ring-sling has carried Sarah many miles, soothed her to sleep on countless fussy nights, and served as the ultimate "don't touch my baby" contraption during flu season. (Store patrons pause before reaching for your baby when she is nestled closely to your chest :-). Alas babies grow. I used our ring sling was at my husband's mountain bike race in the early fall and I will admit, for the first time I was sore the next day after carting her around. The ring sling does distribute weight across your back but not enough for her as she got bigger. Lucky for me I ran across this tutorial: http://scandiute.blogspot.com

The Mei Tai is an Asian inspired carrier that is supposed to work wonderful for carrying toddlers. Mothers in my sewing group have mentioned wearing their toddler on their back while pregnant and how it is awsome for "balancing them out."

When I made my ring sling I was going for cheap cheap cheap. I didn't know if I would like weawring my baby so I checked out the red-tag fabric at Jo-Ann's. I made my ring sling for a grand total of $12 (If I remember correctly :-). This time I wanted to have some fun with fabric. A Mei Tai will set you back between $75-$125+++ if you purchase one so I gave myself a small fabric allowance. My total fabric purchase came to about 20 dollars after utilizing my coupons. I purchased chocolate duck cloth for straps and the inner "strong" layer. I then choose two coordinating home decor fabrics one chocolate, teal, lime poka-dots, and the opposite a green and brown floral. After I made my purchase it lived in a bag on my sewing table for at least 3 months. **I already had a large piece of fleece at home that I used for my strap padding.**

Fast-forward from the mountain bike race through a few teething nights and I wanted it done stat. Several nights at my kitchen table later a beautiful "octopus" of sling emerged. I didn't have the opportunity to use the sling until the new year when Sarah was closer to 26 pounds and I was pregnant again. It took a bit of a learning curve to put it on ( and unfortunately Sarah also fought it at first, not being as familiar as her old ring-sling). The end result however, was great!

Modifications to pattern: I omitted the hood. I made the carrier a bit bigger (following the author's suggestions for making a toddler sling). I opted to make the sling reversible. The pictures are of my husband wearing Sarah while we went snowshoeing in the winter of 2011!

Black Eyed Pea Spread/Dip

Let me start by saying this recipe was a complete accident - but an absolutely delicious one. I had a batch of black eyed peas in the pressure cooker and was planning on making spicy black eyed pea and sweet potato soup. Well, I left it on a few minutes too long and I was left with about five cups of slightly soggy beans. My husband recommended I make a sandwich spread and this is what I came up with. I have another batch of beans on the stove right now in the hopes of making soup but maybe I'll overcook these too and make a second batch of this spread. Use it on crackers, tortilla chips, or bread. It's just plain tasty. I will intentionally make this again :-)

Ingredients:

5 cups slightly overcooked black eyed peas

1 large clove (or 2 medium) FRESH garlic cloves minced

2 stalks of chopped celery

1 cup of sliced tomatoes (I used pearl tomatoes)

2 tablespoons of egg-less mayo (I love Trader Joe's brand)

small bunch of cilantro finely chopped

1 big squirt of lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Mix it all together. Seriously it's that easy. All amounts are approximate and I'm sure you can use different beans and other veggies to suit your personal tastes.

Polenta Stuffed Peppers - campfire friendly!

We went on our first camping trip in five years this past weekend. It was our first trip with a baby, and our first trip as full-vegetarians. I scoured the internet for food ideas most of which revolved around highly processed veggie burgers and fake soy cheese. I was looking for healthier whole food options. I finally googled "Foil and vegetarian" and came across some decent options. My favorite meal of the trip was our Polenta stuffed peppers. I "veganized" a recipe to the following. I tried this recipe both at home in the oven and on the campfire, both methods of cooking produced very palatable results. I hope you enjoy!

Ingredients:
3 cups water
1 cup polenta/corn grits
1 medium onion chopped coarsely
2-3 cloves garlic - minced
1 cup thinly sliced mushrooms (fresh is best!)
2 cans diced tomatoes
4 cored and seeded green peppers sliced lengthwise***
fresh basil
1 teaspoon salt
olive oil

***Purchase organic if possible. Peppers are one of the "dirtiest" conventional produce items.

Preparation instructions:
In a small saucepan heat 3 cups water until boiling. Add polenta. Cook for instructed amount of time for your variety of polenta. Meanwhile in a medium skillet heat a small amount of olive oil and saute the onion and garlic. Add mushrooms and a can of diced tomatoes. When polenta is cooked fold vegetable mixture into the polenta and add your salt.

Fill your cored peppers with the polenta/veggie mix. Pour the remaining can of diced tomatoes into the bottom of a baking dish, sprinkle fresh basil into the tomatoes and nestle peppers face-up in the pan. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes. Then uncover and bake for an additional 10 minutes.

Mix-it-up: I think almost any veggie would be good in these peppers. Asparagus comes to mind as a particularly tasty option. Use what's in season!

Campfire variation:
If preparing ahead of time you can fill your peppers, put them "back together" and wrap tightly with foil. Put all wrapped peppers in a large plastic bag and keep on ice in the cooler. At camp pour tomatoes and basil in a disposable foil pan, add peppers and cover with foil. Cook on the grid of campfire pit. Add a little extra liquid to the pan when cooking over a fire and expect the cook time to go faster. Check frequently. I found that cooking further with the foil removed was not necessary.

Potty Learning at 15 months

I know early potty training has developed a bad rap here in the West but let me share our reasons behind our decision to start now rather than "when she tells you she's ready..."

1)In many other parts of the world there are no diapers, from early on mothers read their baby's body language and assist them in elimination (held over a bowl or tiny potty). This is called Elimination Communication (EC) and it's a positive early potty training that is really more "parent training" since it is the parent's reading the cues. We started doing EC with Sarah when she was about 10 weeks old to minimize her eczema prone skin's contact with urine. We purchased a BabyBjorn "Little potty" which you can find at Amazon.com and BabiesRus. We now have three.

While not crazy diligent with EC, Sarah has been doing the vast majority of her #2's in potty chairs since about 9 months. In between trips to her potty she was cloth diapered.

2)My daughter did not tell me that she was ready to learn how to use a spoon or learn how to climb down safely from things. She didn't tell me that she wanted to brush her teeth or bring me a story book but these are all things that she loves to do. Why would I wait for her to tell me she's ready to use the potty if I've taught her many other things before she told me she was ready? I believe if it's a positive outlook there's nothing wrong with starting early.

3)I have discovered that especially while she is teething she is prone to redness in the diaper area which again leads me stait to the conclusion that it is not natural for a child's skin to be in contact with their waste.

4)Even in the US babies were consistently potty trained between 18 months and 2 years before the mass usage of disposable diapers. Feel dry technology may be great for getting babies to nap longer and be more comfortable than a wet cloth diaper but it is not great for early potty learning.

5)Research shows that babies and young toddlers are more open to potty learning than children nearing the 3 year mark.


Here goes nothing! I came across this article and followed some of it's advice (I really don't believe we will be letting her run around naked for 3 months): http://www.babycenter.com/0_potty-training-in-three-days-or-less_10310078.bc

Pre-training:
We have been talking about mommy and daddy using the potty for a while now. (At least a month or so). We also regularly read "The Potty Book for Girls" which depicts a cute story about learning to use the potty. This book has given Sarah some exposure to what the potty is for and the idea that we will soon be done with diapers.

Day 1:
Today was the perfect day to start Sarah's potty learning. She started the day waking me up because she needed to use her potty for a #2. I stumbled across a "method of potty learning" that advocates for a naked bottom half. Allowing parents to see accidents quickly and allowing children to sit on the potty quickly. I started letting Sarah run around the house (baby pee is incredibly easy to wipe up, even from carpet). She had a couple of piddles on the floor and I had her help me pat the towels to clean it up. I didn't use any negative words just told her that pee goes in the potty. I also took her to sit on the potty at regular intervals. Most of the morning went by without a successful potty hit (I was starting to think that she wasn't ready yet) but now (at 4:30) she has had 2 #2's and 4 #1's in the potty! The most interesting thing to me was that shortly after lunch she started finding me and saying "uhh ohh! uhh ohh! uhh ohh!" If I asked her what was wrong she would point to a puddle on the floor. The puddles throughout the day went from full-blown puddles to quarter size puddles (leading me to believe that she was stopping herself from emptying completely.) Several of her pees that made it in the potty were after she said uhh ohh and showed me a tiny accident. Then I had her sit on the potty and read a story to her while she finished. She is currently napping diaper free on some waterproof pads but I am still planning on using cloth diapers for night time as she still nurses at night and usually wets about twice a night.

She was dry at the end of her nap and used the potty right away.
By the end of day 1 we had 11 successful potty trips! **We stopped using stickers as a reward about half-way through the day, she became disinterested with them after getting 8... I'm going to use them at random for a while.

Day 2:
Sarah woke me up this morning and we immediately went to the potty. She had a tiny bit of pee in her diaper but finished in the potty. We used the potty twice more throughout the morning and went outside the house for the first time wearing our cotton pants. She bounced her ball up and down the sidewalk and then we went on a short stroller ride to watch the construction workers and their "go-gah's" (ie: machinery) She stayed dry and went as soon as we got home. It is still me predicting when she needs to use the potty, she's not telling me yet (other than body language) but no puddles so far and it's 11 a.m. :-) Sarah did wet the waterproof mat during her nap but continued to use the potty in the afternoon. Around 3 I got brave, we went to the grocery store without a diaper on. I put a plastic bag and a couple of cloth diapers over her car seat and slung her in the store. She waited until we got home and went. In fact all day long with the exception of when she was sleeping she has been perfect at using the potty. This evening at bed time she threw the biggest fit over having a diaper put on her. I gave in and let her fall asleep naked. I decided I could put one on her when we go to bed. I'm interested to see what tomorrow will hold!

Day 3 - Sarah's 15 months today!
My day started at 3:30 a.m. Sarah woke me up (still dry) even while wearing her diaper and she used the potty for #1 and #2. I let her go diaper free and she went back to sleep until 6:30 when she got up (still dry) and used the potty again. I was floored. My baby turned 15 months old today and she didn't wet herself overnight. We did have an opps on the way to Grandma's house (she fell asleep in the car) but the whole day while we were out she used her little pottys and was fine on the way home. So in the last two days she has only had two "accidents" both while sleeping. That is an impressive 48 hours for such a little gal. I'm proud of her and consider this early learning a testament to our relationship - the fact that I could read her body language to assist teaching her something so basic as keeping herself clean and dry. She is not using words to tell me that she has to go but she has carried a potty to me when she needs help. I have found that she only likes to go about every 3 hours (when I offer more frequently she says "no" and walks away). Hopefully the rest of the process (verbalization, manipulating clothing, washing hands independently) will follow smoothly when she's developmentally ready. I'll try to edit this post to add when she reaches these mile stones or add interesting moments along the journey. I don't see us as being done but we are completed with our 3 day kick-off and from here we will just continue to work at her pace :-) (And I will enjoy a break in my diaper laundering :-)

Backyards

I've been thinking a lot about backyards lately. As I walk Sarah to and from the park I stare at backayards and what people do with them. Some people have beautiful shaded areas for reading and playing. Others have barren lawns littered with pet waste. The later of the two always seems like a giant shame to me. There are other yards that I imagine what I would do with if I happened to own the property.

I'll admit it, when I owned a house I lamented yard work. Mowing the lawn, picking up after the dog; it seemed like I was rarely enjoying it but rather taking care of it. (We also happened to have the misfortune of needing to tear-out, regrade, and re-plant our yard in the early years at our house). That said we did always have large fruitful gardens and a lovely area for evening "campfires." The down-time we did have in our space was very relaxing.

Fast-forward three years and suddenly I miss that yard A LOT! A series of moves, job-changes and simplification decisions (IE me being a stay-at-home mom) means that we are not going to be in a financial position to own a home any time soon. While I love my low-maintenance rental town-home, the shared grassy patch is small and treated with lots of nasty chemicals. I have Sarah pretty well trained to stay on the sidewalk which in and of itself is very sad to me. Luckily we live in a very nice area that has plentiful parks which we can walk to. The local municipality does not treat the park grass which is a huge bonus. I can only imagine that as Sarah grows and we eventually grow our family that I will long for a yard more and more. I already wish for a fenced are that I could let Sarah run "at will" (still supervised but not so governed). A place to once again grow my garden, a space that my dog is welcome (none of the parks where I live allow pets), a space for campfires, a space where I can leave a toy in the grass while we go inside to have lunch, and most importantly a place to hang a swing.

So why I am writing about backyards? Because I miss having one and if you have one I want you to take a moment to remember how great it is. Why else am I writing? To get over it; here are the things that I can love about being yard-less right now:

1)I don't have to mow or dig weeds
2)I am pushed to leave home, IE - we now have a bigger backyard which includes: the zoo, children's museum, parks, the library and our extended neighborhood.
3) Being yard-less is allowing me to have the most fulfilling job in the universe right now.

50 Things (Summer 2010)

I've read in multiple places lately the idea of getting rid of 50 things. Going through to purge your life of clutter and unnecessary items. We've moved cross-country twice in the last 3 years and on our move south we had TWO MOVING TRUCKS! When we returned we crammed everything we kept into one. I've endlessly put things on craigslist and ebay and taken tons and tons of things to Goodwill and St. Vincent De Paul. Part of me doubted that I would really be able to find 50 things I was willing to part with; after all, I've purged a lot in the last 3 years. Regardless I thought I would look and in a few minutes had a giant heap. This looks like it will be easier than I thought. I'm going to list my 50 things for this summer (as recommended by the articles) as I find them and then hopefully can make this a seasonal habit.

Summer Purge:
1) Unity Candle setting from wedding. (offering it to little sister, otherwise donated).
2) Puppy Pad tray (the dog that needed it went to a new family a year ago...)
3 -9) Cookbooks that are not vegetarian
10-11) Two brand-new teething rings where the liquid leaked out (trash)
12) Brand-new scented candle - we don't do scented candles (offering it to family or donate)
13) Gifted Decor, not our style (donating)
14) drying rack for dishes that is too big for our counter (donating)
15-19) Like-new novels that aren't bad but aren't good. (Sisters or donating to library)
20) Easter Bunny stained glass - donating
21) French Horn Case (going to try craigslist otherwise going to a local school)
22) New bottle of black poster-paint. (Going to sister's classroom)
23) Giant bag (50+) of decorative pencils (Going to sister's classroom).
24) Pink Sweater tank-top. Lets face it, sweater tank tops are a bad idea. (donate)
25) Pet-a-Paws which didn't work so great. Returned to CVS for $10 :-)
26) Large bag of stale "greenie" dog treats - garbage
27-29) Nice like-new dog toys that my dog doesn't like - (gave to the neighbor's new puppy)
30) The idea that my writing isn't good enough to share (gave out 2 copies of my manuscript)

Mung Bean and Rice Soup (aka: Screaming Sarah Soup)

I call this "Screaming Sarah Soup" for two reasons.
1) The prep is fast; I can easily throw this together even on the worst of screamy (teething) days.
2) Sarah loves it. If I don't move the spoon fast enough from her cup to her mouth she "screams" (well, grunts) for more.

Anyway it is a fantastically fast (and healthy) little number inspired by a red lentil soup recipe that I found on one of my favorite cooking websites 101cookbooks.com. My version substitutes mung beans for red lentils (we prefer their texture and slightly nutty flavor over the red lentils which we find to be a bit too mushy). My version also yields a larger batch and has more rice. Throw some together on the next rainy afternoon and enjoy :-)

Mung Bean Soup Ingredients

1 medium onion

1-2 shallots

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

8 cups water

2 cubes veggie bouillon (we love the Rapunzel with sea salt and herbs but have been using Edward and Sons Garden Veggie due to availability at our local store). (These are large size cubes so one cube flavors 2 cups water)

1 cup rinsed Mung beans (we used the split variety)

1 cup brown rice

2 and 1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

Chop onions and shallots. Caramelize onions and shallots with red pepper flakes in a small splash of olive oil. Once caramelized add 8 cups water, veggie bouillon, Mung beans, brown rice and salt. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for approximately 45 minutes (or until rice is at desired texture). Adjust seasoning to taste and enjoy!

Serving Note: My hubby and baby love this soup "as is." I enjoy it with a small splash of citrus (you can use lemon or lime but I would add it to taste bowl by bowl).

Advice for new mothers

If I could go back to my pregnancy days what I would've wished for was honest advice from other moms. Not the labor horror stories that they were all-to-eager to share; but rather home-coming stories, breast-feeding challenges, sleep-deprivation moments and stories of feeling lost. Because lets face it, while labor is the first, it is not the biggest challenge to becoming a new mom. What I would want is for someone to say, "You know, all the things you read are just suggestions. Trust your instincts you will know what to do." Then I would want them to follow up with "Except when you don't, because sometimes you won't (I love Dr. Seuss) and when you don't feel free to call me; maybe I can help."

For many women their mother is their number one "go-to" person. I too called my mom but found her to not always be able to help. Two hurdles stood in her way. For one, she was 1200 miles away and for two it had been 20 years since she had birthed my youngest sister. She remembered a lot but would often say, "It's been too long, ask _______" So I had to get used to asking other people. And because I had my connections at my birth center I had "people." I don't think most people go home from giving birth with two new facebook friends that are experts on everything baby so that's why I'm encouraging women to surround themselves with positive mentor moms.

I was lucky to be able to call upon my birth center family. I called my midwife at night when she was at home because my baby's respiration's were "too high"; she had me take a layer of clothing off and they dropped right away. She saved us a trip to urgent care and calmed my new mommy nerves. I called my cousin to ask questions about breastfeeding. She described the initial pain as "toe-curling" and suddenly I felt I could ask her anything. 6 months post birth I had a face-book conversation with another wonderful birth center employee who encouraged me to see a doctor regarding my continued healing. I did and while there was nothing I could do to speed up my recovery it was good to know that I was indeed healing and that "these things just take time."

These are the tips I would give to my friends who are new mothers. I failed miserably at some of these while others took me a while to figure out. Hopefully next time around I will be wiser :-)

Top Ten tips for New Mommies

1)
You don't have to be super mom. You can't do it all.

2)
Don't be afraid to ask your husband (or close family) to watch the baby so you can catch up on sleep and recover.

3)
You have just started the hardest and most rewarding job of your entire life, expect to have a learning-curve.

4)
When nothing else works, take the baby outside for a few minutes. Fresh air does wonders. (When this does fail remember there are thousands of other Moms rocking their babies right now - again ask for help if you need it.)

5)
The world is full of experts. Once you are a mom, strangers feel comfortable giving you their two cents. If it doesn't add up to you smile and ignore them. (This also goes for authors who push child-rearing agendas that don't sit well with your instincts. Remember many of them are selling "solutions" that have not been researched and if it doesn't feel sound right to you, it's not right FOR you.)

6)
Post-partum depression is a real condition. If you have any feelings that you feel are out of balance talk to someone as soon as possible, you are not alone.

7)
It takes a while to get to know your baby. Don't feel bad if you don't understand his or her language.

8)
You will make mistakes, it's okay. Our parents weren't perfect either and look how much we love them.

9)
Write about what you are going through. Share good and hard times on paper. Someday your "parenting journal" could inspire your baby through his/her tough times of early parenting.

10)
Acknowledge that just like it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to raise a mother. You have also been born into a new life; surround yourself with a community of positive, supportive moms and ask for whatever it is that you need.

And lastly. Remember this.
You are amazing. You have birthed a new life and you know what's best for that life - trust your instincts.

**This was written with love and reflection after meeting my first niece. Congrats to my sister and her new family. Remember we are here for you. **

Made By Rae "Buttercup Bag"

My sister is a beautiful blond who loves orange and pink and anything bright and fun. She is outrageously vibrant and though I wasn't out shopping with her in mind, when I saw this fabric I knew I needed to make her a handbag. Her college graduation party was coming up in two weeks and this was a perfect gift for her.

I have been tucking away blog tutorials and online patterns for just such an occasion and digging back through my favorites I came across this awesome and FREE pattern on the "Made By Rae" blog. It is her "Buttercup Bag." She asks that you use her pattern only for personal use. If you'd like to craft her bag for resale or would like a larger size she has a pattern available for $10 that gives you the opportunity to do both. Her blog is: http://www.made-by-rae.com/

Rae's step by step instructions and photo tutorial made this project a breeze! I love the pleats and inside pocket. The size of the purse is perfect for a wallet, keys, and a compact or two.

Bottom line, this project is beautiful and can be quite thrifty. Using red-tag fabric for the outer, scraps for the inner, a hand-me-down button and a new magnetic closure I estimate the bag cost me approximately $1.40 + time and talent ;-) I'm giving it to her today and figured I'd be safe to post as she is probably on the road by now!

1 year later - our TV free experiment

It's been a year since our T.V. was plugged into a wall and about 11 months since I've seen it as we sold it on craigslist last summer. At first the idea of selling the Time Vacuum seemed ridiculous to me. What if we really want to watch something? Can't we just keep it and not turn it on? It was my husband pushing for this change and I was still in the "everything in moderation camp".

While we both could see educational benefits to programming on PBS and other learning channels found on cable stations we had become increasingly discontent with the amount of advertising and the content of a lot of the programming. I still had my favorite prime-time shows but when pushed to really examine them I had to admit that yes they were on the trashy side. In the early years of our marriage, we went through phases of watching and not watching and we didn't pay for cable so it wasn't costing us anything.

Like pretty much every major change in the last year the final push to get rid of the time vacuum was having our daughter Sarah. The American Academy of Pediatrics had issued a statement saying that children under two should get zero screen time. They cited the rapidly changing images as re-hardwiring the way a child's brain worked and linking it to ADD and ADHD later in childhood. Here is an article on the study: http://www.whitedot.org/issue/iss_story.asp?slug=ADHD%20Toddlers
Having taken educational psychology courses in my college years this article re-enforced a lot of what I had learned.

When we talked about getting rid of the T.V. a few people thought it was a good idea; they too got sucked in to watching when they didn't really have time. Some of my friends however told me I would regret it (or later change my mind), the ONLY way they could make dinner was to put on Curious George. It didn't sit right with me that I would risk my daughter's brain development so I could have an easier time making dinner. So 6 weeks after she was born out it went. Would I miss it?

Surprisingly no.

In the past year I have spent many evenings cuddled up with my baby without the distraction of the T.V. I have also revisited many of my old hobbies and learned new ones. I joined cafemom's sewing diaper divas group and learned how to make my own cloth diapers. I pulled out an old manuscript that I always believed had potential but never "had time" to write (I have now FINISHED my rough draft). I have cooked tons and tons of vegetarian food, walked miles upon miles and even read a few books. My hubby has also done a great deal of cooking and cycling and completed his first 100K last fall. He intends on riding a century this fall. I still find myself super busy, these "hobbies" are usually only given a few minutes here or there and honestly when I talk to new parents who do watch shows on a regular basis I wonder how they even have the time.

We take everything "one day at a time." Sometimes I wonder if we will ever go back to owning a T.V. At this point I would say it seems doubtful. As Sarah (and any future siblings) get older we plan on watching DVD's, perhaps on the computer. We know there is educational and entertainment value in media but we plan on using it in a limited way without all the commercials.

XXL Hummus - for a 14 cup food processor

One of our staple foods since turning full-vegetarian is hummus. We enjoy it in the following ways: plain on bread or crackers, on sandwiches piled high with sliced peppers, onions, tomato and avocado, and on our vegan "pizza" (wheat crust, hummus, sliced tomatoes, fresh basil, and homemade pickled garlic (see recipes for that too!). With the volume of hummus we eat we would go broke buying it pre-made from the store. This is my husband's recipe which almost fills a 14 cup food processor! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
4 cups dry chick peas
2 cups lemon juice
1-2 cups water
1 cup olive oil (the greener the better)
1 cup sesame tahini
5 large cloves of fresh garlic
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
fresh ground black pepper to taste
ground red pepper to taste

Directions:
1)Re-hydrate the chick peas using your preferred method (we use a pressure cooker which requires no pre-soaking and approximately 40 minutes of cook time once pressure has built).
2) Place chick peas, garlic and tahini in food processor
3) Add half the lemon juice and begin to process. Add the rest of the lemon juice and olive oil while processing. Add water slowly to get hummus to desired consistency, remember if the beans are warm err on the side of making a slightly thinner hummus, it will thicken in the refrigerator as it cools. (If you add the full volume of liquid before processing it will leak as the liquid level will rise above the center hole in the processor...)
4) Once processed smooth, add spices, salt, and pepper. Process until well mixed.
Remember this is a starting point recipe, we add more oil, juice, salt and seasonings as needed batch to batch. Season to taste!

Hummus keeps well in the fridge for up to a week. We freeze in deli tubs (which we re-use with each batch). Make sure to leave a little space at the top of the tub (for expansion when freezing.) Cover with a thin layer of olive oil if you desire.) When you thaw you may need to mix a squirt of lemon juice or olive oil to get the hummus to desired consistency.

Serving Suggestions:
Traditionally hummus is served with on a plate topped with olive oil, fresh chick peas, and sprinkled with paprika.
We enjoy variations on this involving ground red pepper or fresh black pepper.


*** This is a double XXL Hummus batch minus a container for a neighbor and what we had for dinner :-)***

Our Eczema story, its ultimate solution, and the beginning of our full-vegitarian diet

When our daughter was born I tried to listen to the advice people gave me. This was our pre-vegetarian days. Initially I switched to purchasing high quality meats and organic dairy. The realization that everything I ate was being broken down into breast milk for her made me uncomfortable with eating many of the things we used to enjoy. I had been warned to go very light on the dairy as babies have a hard time digesting milk proteins. For a period of time I drank extremely little milk and only had yogurt which I had heard was more digestible.

Things were relatively event less until Sarah turned about two and a half months old. During a middle of the night diaper change I felt tiny bumps on Sarah's legs. I switched on a small light. They weren't red and looked a lot like the infant acne she used to have on her face. The next few nights it seemed that Sarah was having a terrible time sleeping. She kept kicking her legs; at first we thought she was "discovering" her feet, until the realization that she was rubbing her legs kicked in. One morning I realized that she had rubbed the bumps raw and they were weeping. Scared I called our pediatrician. I drove her to the doctor late on a Friday afternoon. The first thing the nurse practitioner asked was if I had started eating any new foods. I couldn't think of any at the time and she reassured me this was eczema.

Being a new parent and wanting to "fix" my daughter I did everything they suggested. I slathered her legs with steroid foam. I switched from my organic Lafe's baby wash to Aveeno, I went from an unscented detergent to Dreft and I even used disposable diapers for a very short period of time.

A lightbulb went off during a 3 a.m. feeding that I had recently begun eating cantaloupe. I googled "cantaloupe allergy." I gathered that while it was usually an oral "itchy" allergy it was related to the ragweed allergy. Being that I am HIGHLY allergic to ragweed. Bingo I thought, I'll stop eating melon.

The rash eventually faded but spiked glamorously again a week or two later. This time the rash also covered the backs of her elbows and arms. Rushing her back to the doctor the nurse practitioner gave me more steroids and said that maybe my car seat was causing her rash. This time my husband was with me and we both felt brushed off. We were instructed to give her Benedryl to make her sleep and more steroid cream as needed for redness.

Holding Sarah at night while she slept was the only way to keep her from kicking (itching) her legs. We were on a tight regiment of steroid cream, lotion, and petroleum jelly. Once applied we carefully slid my ankle socks over her legs to keep the greasy mess from getting everywhere. I was convinced there was an environmental trigger, but what? She had recently begun napping in her crib as she outgrew her bassinet; was it the mattress? $300+ dollars and an organic naturepedic mattress later I confirmed that no it was not the mattress. Was it diet? Cantaloupe was out but she was still having strange sudden break-outs. I felt so helpless and as Sarah struggled to rest comfortable I became increasingly uncomfortable with the "treat the rash" approach.

Google turned into my obsession. I checked for the most common eczema triggers; many were foods. Deciding to spend more money that we didn't have I made Sarah an appointment with an allergy specialist. He had eczema and childhood allergies listed as specialties and taught at the local university near where we lived (at the time in Florida). I have never been more frustrated with a doctor. The photos shown here are her skin the morning of our appointment.



He explained to me that Sarah's case of eczema was VERY mild a 1 or 2 on a scale of 1-10. While thankful she wasn't any higher in his opinion, I was still concerned. I asked about doing an elimination diet as I had read about online. The idea is to remove all highly allergenic foods from the diet and slowly re-introduce them to see which would cause reaction. He told me only 30% of eczema cases were related to food and that it would be near impossible to figure it out. (Only 30%??? That's 1 in 3!) He also explained to me that eczema was the "itch that rashes" so the bumps were only going to show up where she was making contact with things.

In a nut-shell, his conclusion was that eczema was something she would be dealing with for at least 2 years and I should just give her Zyrtec and use topical hydrocortisone when she had a flair up. He told me that he didn't want me to be frustrated with her or become frustrated with being a mother. He told me that he didn't want me to be so stressed out that I wouldn't want future babies. I wasn't thinking about future babies though, I was thinking about this baby!

Frustrated to the point of tears I left the practice vowing to get to the bottom of her eczema. I had read testimonials of people online who had figured out their child's dietary triggers. I had the personal story of a friend that struggled with eczema her entire life (through her mid-20's) until she was food-allergy tested. While Sarah was too young to be tested for allergies I was ready to attempt the elimination diet on my own.

I choose to eat very low allergy foods for a period of time and slowly re-introduce the higher-allergy foods. I carefully made sure that I was still meeting my nutritional needs while I ate my very bland diet. It was working, her skin was clearing up. This diet of low-allergy foods was also almost vegan. When I re-introduced eggs after a month without them she broke out. When I ate soup with squash in it she broke out. After more frantic googling I found that like cantaloupe, squash, cucumber, and bananas were in the same family of foods linked with the ragweed allergy. My careful intake of foods was having a profound impact on the condition of her skin. While I was still diligent to moisturize Sarah's skin, the petroleum jelly and steroid creams were no longer needed. It took us about 6 weeks for us to figure it out. We were lucky.

The end results were that eczema (In SARAH's Case) was triggered by:

Squash and Melon family items
Eggs
Dairy
Chlorine (no baby swim for us).
Certain exposed elastic (our x-mas dress :(
Long car rides in high heat (If it's hot enough that she gets sweaty in the carseat her back breaks out)

Since mid-fall of 2009 we have needed no more steroids, benedryl, lotions or creams. Sarah has beautiful clear skin. It does break out if I have even a couple of tablespoons of food that has squash in it. I have not attempted to re-introduce anything else. I am planning on having her tested for food allergies when she turns 2.

This was the beginning of our full-vegetarian journey. More to follow :-)

Mashed Potato "Pancakes"

Growing up in a German Catholic family I got my fill of potato pancakes - especially during lent. I LOVED them and have fond memories of my dad mixing the shredded potatos with eggs and listening to the sizzle when they hit the griddle. I made them a few times myself as an adult, I found shredding and then squeezing the water out of the grated potato was always so time consuming. This recipe was something I devised to use up a huge bag of organic potatoes that were on their way out. I drew inspiration from a recipe for Indian "tikki" and made a hybrid recipe that is vegan. These are very quick and easy (no shredding or squeezing!), versatile (use up whatever veggies you want), perfect for preparing ahead of time, and extremely family friendly. My one year old loved hers with a bit of salsa on it. Enjoy!

Mix Together these ingredients:

- cooked (mashed) potatoes
- diced veggies (I used peppers but you can use anything you have)
- semi-mashed beans (I used chick peas)
- a good squirt of lemon juice (the liquid aids in creating a shapable patty and adds a great flavor)

Add seasoning to taste:

- freshly ground black pepper
- garlic salt

Cook:
Create your patties. Brush both sides with olive oil. Cook on electric griddle (heated to 350 degrees). Flip them a few times until browned to your liking. Serve

Topping ideas:

-olive oil with salt and pepper
-salsa
-maple syrup

Welcome

It is the third-strait dark, rainy day here in the Midwest and while the baby was falling asleep for her nap I decided I needed to start a blog. I have been sending friends and family(as well as distant aquaintances) recipes, photos and articles and am getting to the point of needing a resource to catalog the information I'm passing it along. I anticipate that the majority of my posts will be related to cooking (recipies and photos included), sewing, health, and parenting.

I said in my "about me" that I stumbled unexpectedly into full-vegiterianism and natural parenting. As I blog I'll share the history behind these major life changes but to sum it up very simply a very wise woman once told me "when you know better you do better." Not to say our choices are the only way to live or the best for everyone, but right now they are the best for us.
Thanks for joining us!