Menu for January 23rd – 29th

Our family is so blessed.
Not only are we blessed to have goats to provide all our dairy needs,
but now we have been able to trade our excess with others to meet virtually all our other food needs!

Thank You, Lord!

As such, we have an exorbitant amount of produce in this week’s menu
(have I mentioned how blessed we are – to live in an area where there is still abundance in the deep of winter?!)
and will likely continue to be exorbitant for many weeks. 🙂

Hallelujah!

MENU

Sunday
breakfast: fried egg sandwiches, tangerines
lunch out after church
dinner: braised lamb shanks, home-ground polenta, broccoli

Monday
breakfast: soaked oats with local walnuts & honey, persimmons
am snack at Nourishing Connections meeting – taking raw goat milk yogurt, fig & thyme honey preserves
lunch: potato and swiss chard soup, onion rolls
pm snack: dried apple rings, home-dried raisins
dinner: tacos w/grass-fed beef, sprouted pinto beans, raw goat cheese, cortido, arugula

Tuesday
breakfast: huevos rancheros (homemade lacto-ferm. salsa, pastured eggs, raw goat cheese), homemade corn tortillas
am snack: tangerines, crispy pecans
lunch: tuna melts, lacto-ferm. carrot sticks
pm snack: oatmeal-raisin cookies (with home dried raisins & soaked oats)
dinner: roasted chicken w/garlic, creamed kale, salad

Wednesday
breakfast: soaked cornmeal cereal, lacto-ferm. sweet chutney
am snack: persimmon jello w/cream
lunch: chicken sandwiches w/arugula & herbed goat chese
pm snack: blackberry & peach smoothies (raw goat milk kefir with homegrown fruit from the freezer!)
dinner: roasted butternut squash, chicken sausages, steamed swiss chard

Thursday
breakfast: soaked oats w/blackberries (from freezer) & raw cream
am snack: dried persimmons, crispy walnuts
lunch: egg salad sandwiches (pastured eggs, homemade mayo, and lacto-ferm. pickle relish), lacto-ferm. carrot sticks
pm snack: popcorn (popped in coconut oil w/raw butter)
dinner: tusan cornbread (with home-dried rosemary, home-ground cornmeal, raw goat milk yogurt), bacon-wrapped brussel sprout, salad

Friday
breakfast: eggs florentine (modified to use l.o. cornbread and chard)
am snack: tangerines, home-dried raisins
lunch:  salmon patties, steamed broccoli,
pm snack:  apples, crispy walnuts
dinner: corn chowder (homegrown corn from freezer), cheese biscuits, salad

Sabbath
breakfast: banana french toast, bacon
lunch at Sienna’s birthday party!
dinner: snack platter – cold cuts, raw cheese, apples

Be sure to join Laura for more than 300 new menu plans each week!

Menu for January 2nd – 8th

My baby sister is getting married today!!

Since this week after the wedding is going to be used as a time of recovery (at least for those of us ‘not’ on honeymoon in Hawai’i!),
I have some simple meals planned – and some definite comfort foods on the menu!

MENU
Sunday
breakfast: Daddy’s Diner – Moma’s out getting her hair done!
Taylor and Johanna’s Wedding!

Monday
breakfast: scrambled eggs w/spinach, toast
am snack: lacto-ferm. applesauce, crispy walnuts
lunch: chicken salad sandwiches, lacto-ferm. carrots
pm snack: kale chips with ranch dip
dinner: beef tacos, cortido

Tuesday
breakfast: soaked oats w/blackberries & cream
am snack: dried cranberries, crispy pecans
lunch: quesadillas, guacamole
pm snack: cinnamon nuts, orange slices
dinner: baked potatoes, chili (use l.o. taco meat), salad

Wednesday
breakfast: fried eggs & potatoes, kalekraut
am snack: goat cheese, sourdough crackers
lunch: chicken pot pie
pm snack: pumpkin pudding, orange slices
dinner: steak w/mushrooms, brown rice pilaf, salad

Thursday
breakfast: soaked oats w/pumpkin & crispy pecans
am snack: applesauce w/cranberries & cream
lunch: vegetable stew w/mushrooms & beef
pm snack: popcorn, dried apples
dinner: stead and kidney pasties, creamed peas

Friday
breakfast: l.o. steak, fried eggs, cortido
am snack: l.o. pumpkin pudding, cranberries
lunch: spaghetti w/clam sauce, broccolini
pm snack: kale chips, ranch dip
dinner: clam chowder, sourdough, salad

Sabbath
breakfast: pumpkin French toast, bacon
lunch: ravioli w/chicken & goat cheese, green beans, salad
dinner: popcorn, fruit

Be sure to join Laura for more than 300 new menu plans each week!

Helping Children Eat Healthy – Managing the “Picky Eater”

A recent commenter asked how we managed to eat such a wide variety of foods in our diet without running into the picky eater demands…

It’s fairly easy.
“Here’s what we’re eating. Eat. Or don’t eat. It’ll be here when you’re hungry.”

We don’t play the game of demands.
There is one meal served, and it is eaten.

Granted, we used to play it. Often. And not well.  Our oldest used to get all kinds of special treatment for his food wants.
But now that we have more children, more demands on our food budget, and less time for me to be in the kitchen,
we don’t.

Here’s how meals usually go:
We are seated at the table, grace is said.
Food is placed on plates – and I don’t load them up.
We start small.  The general rule is 1 tablespoon of each food for every year of their age.
If they don’t like the food, they only have to finish what they have.
If they like it, they may have seconds of it after everything is eaten off their plate.
They don’t get anything else other than what is on the menu,
and they finish their plates before leaving the table.
We used to re-serve the food to them the next meal, but I wouldn’t want to eat cold food, and the goal is for my children to enjoy eating…
We switched to serving smaller portions, and they are required to finish.
If it turns into a battle, we serve smaller portions the next time, and work our way back up.
But that usually means smaller portions of something they like…
so they find that eating a few bites of something “icky” is worth it for more of my sweet potato fries. 🙂

I’ve found this is the best way to make sure they are getting “enough” of a good thing,
while not making every single bite a battle.
Not to mention, this also takes a LOT of waste out of the equation.
I’ve seen so many parents load the plates up, and then complain that their child “didn’t eat anything!”

There’s no reason we should expect toddlers to eat a full size, or even half of an adult sized portion.  Tiny tummies make for tiny meals.
We utilize snack time in our house to help keep tummies from rumbling, as well as making sure to add more nutrition to their diet,
but our mealtimes truly are where children should be obtaining most of their food intake.
(Snacks are limited in their portion sizes, so it doesn’t stress their digestive system out, working all day.)

Our oldest son went a day and a half without eating anything, before he ate what was placed in front of him without complaint.
That’s 36 hours, in case you were wondering!
It’s very disconcerting as a parent to feel like you’re “starving” this baby (he was 2, not an infant… no worries)
who will somehow never be happy again if you don’t fix him
a peanut butter and honey sandwich
RIGHT NOW.

Whew.
But here we are almost 3 years later, and he’s still thriving.
He still likes his peanut butter and honey sandwiches,
but he only gets them at Gramma and Papa’s house, thus avoiding the fight in the future.

Here are some other resources for helping your child eat well:

How to Get Your Kids to Eat Anything, from Cheeseslave’s blog – take a look at the comments, too. Lots of good stuff.
Healthy Foods to Tantalize Toddlers, from the Weston A. Price Foundation
How to Help Family Members Adapt to Real Food, from Passionate Homemaking
Taking the “ICKY” Out of Picky Eaters, from the Weston A. Price Foundation

Menu for September 12th – 18th

We’re still fighting the remnants of a cold bug… I wasn’t expecting it to hit us until a little bit later in the season, and I wasn’t prepared! I just started a batch of cold syrup, and in the meantime, we’ve been making do with a quick batch of elderberry syrup I mixed up, as well as a good deal of horehound and ginger tea.

We have a meeting Monday for our local Nourishing Traditions Mommy’s Group, Nourishing Connections.  We’re doing a harvest exchange, where all of us bring anything “extra” we have from our gardens.  Since my garden is on its last leg, I’m making some goat cheese to share (since that’s about the only thing we have surplus of these days), and I’m going to try out my soaked gingerbread recipe from last year – I hope everyone likes it as much as we do! 🙂

Here’s the menu for this week:

MENU

Sunday
breakfast: scrambled eggs, bacon, toast
lunch: quinoa salad, mashed potatoes
dinner: brown rice spaghetti, cheesy butternut squash

Monday
breakfast: soaked oatmeal, fruit salad, cream
Nourishing Connections meeting: taking goat cheese & gingerbread
pm snack: lemonade smoothies
dinner: roasted sausages, stuffed peppers

Tuesday
breakfast: custard French toast, fresh peaches
am snack: apples w/cream cheese dip
lunch: brown rice pasta bake, broccoli
pm snack: peanut cookies, raw milk
dinner: polenta, fresh tomato basil sauce, salad

Wednesday
breakfast: gingerbread, apples, whipped raw cream
am snack: peaches, cottage cheese
lunch: meat stir-fry w/rice
pm snack: crispy nut trail mix
dinner: cabbage rolls, pickled beets, salad

Thursday
breakfast: fried cornmeal, peach chutney, raw cream
am snack: pineapple kombucha
lunch: calzones, salad
pm snack: applesauce, raw cream
dinner: baked potatoes + fixings, salad

Friday
breakfast: fried potatoes, eggs, bacon
am snack: gingerbread, raw milk
lunch: BLT’s
pm snack: celery w/homemade peanut butter
dinner: black bean soup, cornbread muffins, salad

Sabbath
breakfast: baked apple oatmeal, raw cream
lunch: lasagna, green beans, salad
dinner: popcorn, raw cheese, fruit

Be sure to join Laura for more than 300 new menu plans each week!

Called to Cover interview

I was interviewed by Lina, at A Set Apart Life, recently about my journey to headcovering.
Head on over and take a look!

Menu for March 28th – April 3rd

We will be spending this week at the central California coast.  Our friends Peter and Erin are (finally!) getting married next Saturday, so we will be over at the coast helping prepare for the wedding, and hopefully spending plenty of time just hanging out together as a family!  This is the only week Brian has off from both school and work, so we’re striving to make the most of it.

We are blessed to have been given the gift of Brian’s grandfather’s old Airstream trailer.  Brian and my father have spent the last week essentially gutting and redoing the entire trailer to make it ready to use.  It’s an amazing blessing to our family – as I’m sure anyone who’s tried to tent-camp with 3 very small children can attest to. 🙂

Because we will be in a trailer, we’ll be cooking most of our meals – the same as we would if we were home.  This helps GREATLY with food costs, as even buying “fun” food (like burgers, hotdogs, steak, etc) is still cheaper (and healthier) when prepared from scratch.

MENU

Sunday
breakfast: baked apple oatmeal, cream
lunch: croissant sandwiches, dried fruit trail mix
Bonfire on the Beach!

Monday
breakfast: soaked granola w/dried fruit, cream
lunch: lamb burgers, oven roasted fries, salad
dinner: steak w/mushrooms, smashed potatoes, salad

Tuesday
breakfast: steak & eggs, hash browns
lunch: pita sandwiches w/hummus, sprouts, falafel
dinner: hotdogs, veggie sticks

Wednesday
breakfast: overnight French toast, fruit salad
lunch: pigs in a blanket, peas & carrots
dinner: baked macaroni & cheese, broccoli, salad

Thursday
breakfast: waffles, bananas
lunch: fish & chips
dinner: roasted bone-in chicken breasts, rice, mixed vegetables

Friday
breakfast: egg custard, fruit salad
lunch: Daddy’s Choice
dinner after wedding rehearsal

Sabbath
!!Peter and Erin’s Wedding!!

Be sure to join Laura each week for more than 400 other menu plans and recipe ideas!

Our Daily Schedule

Now that we are milking our own goats, (and the boys are finally old enough to be useful!) we’ve had to rearrange our choretimes to fit with Brian’s schedule.  Jake has been thoroughly enjoying helping feed the animals, and Patrick is just happy to have some “work”. 🙂

DAILY SCHEDULE

5:30 a.m. — Momma up, dressed, and prepared for the day
6:00 a.m. — morning devotions, check daily work lists
6:30 a.m. — begin laundry
6:45 a.m. — start coffee and making Brian’s lunch; Brian up
7:00 a.m. — wake boys up, get them dressed
7:05 a.m. – help boys make beds, prepare for chores
(filling up milk bottles for goats, etc.)
7:10-7:40 a.m. – morning chores
(goats, chickens, and usually a little walk with Daddy;
Momma makes breakfast)
7:40 a.m. – inside to cleanup for breakfast
7:50 a.m.  – BREAKFAST
8:15-8:30 a.m. – MORNING WORSHIP
(we usually pick one of the Scripture readings from the sermon to elaborate on through the week), and sing 2 hymns;
the boys practice their memory verses for the week for Daddy)
8:30 a.m. – Daddy leaves for work
8:30-8:45 a.m. — breakfast cleanup
(boys are responsible for cleaning their dishes off table.
Jacob wipes the table, Patrick picks up the floor messes (usually his) and pushes the chairs in)
8:45 a.m. – discuss schedule for the day
(the boys usually sit and talk to me while I finish up the dishes, and get started on the meal preparations for the day)
9:00-10:20 a.m. – indoor learning
(this can include reading stories, play dough, coloring, magnet letters/shapes/numbers, painting, etc. – it’s a very hands-on time for Momma!)
10:20 a.m. – cleanup and prepare snack
(the boys usually help prepare this, and if it’s something that requires “cooking”, we’ll work on it during school time for science/math skills)
10:30 am – MORNING SNACK
10:40-11:30 p.m. – supervised outdoor/large motor play
(lots of walking/running… get rid of that energy!)
11:30 a.m. – wash up, bath if needed
(which is usually is, be it mud, or.. mud)
11:30-12:00 p.m. – indoor play
(some days this is a movie time, other times the boys get to work on puzzles or blocks –
things that don’t necessarily need constant “momma eyes”)
12:10 p.m. – cleanup and prepare for lunch
(the boys set the table, and make sure all their toys are picked up)
12:20 p.m. — LUNCH
12:40-1:00 p.m. — lunch cleanup and quiet time preparation
(same chores as at breakfast, and then they pick out stories)
1:00-1:30 p.m. – story time
(yes, we read for a full 30 minutes! The boys have to be on their beds, listening.
We go to the library every two weeks to trade in our selections,
but we check out about 20 books each time, so we have enough to go through each day)
1:30-3:00 p.m. — QUIET TIME
(boys must be lying down in their beds – not sleeping, unless they happen to be tired enough to do that…
Jacob usually gets headphones with a book on tape to listen to if Patrick falls asleep,
otherwise it’s a book on tape on the stereo for them to listen to.
Momma uses this time to catch up on laundry;
take a nap – usually if they are having a hard time staying in their beds, I’ll go lay down with them;
or to start dinner preparations)
3:00-3:15 p.m. – boys up, fold blankets
3:15 p.m. — prepare snack
(again, they help, and then are responsible for picking up after themselves)
3:30 p.m. — AFTERNOON SNACK
3:45-5:00 p.m. – supervised outdoor/large motor play
(more running 🙂 , and I’ll occasionally leave them playing outside to get dinner started)
5:00 pm – cleanup and prepare for dinner
(boys set table, and we usually sing a few songs or do flashcards while we’re waiting for Daddy to get home)
5:20 pm – Daddy home from work
5:30 p.m. — DINNER
6:00-6:10 p.m. — dinner cleanup
6:10-6:30 p.m. – BATHTIME
6:30-6:40 pm – prepare for bed
(jammies on, teeth brushed)
6:40-7:00 p.m. – EVENING WORSHIP
(we practice memory verses again, read a Bible story, two “character-building” stories,
and one from our Children’s Devotional, sing 4-5 songs, then family prayers)
7:00 p.m. — BEDTIME
(they usually fall asleep listening to a children’s hour on the radio)
7:00-9:00 p.m. — Momma’s chore time!
(I start all my ferments, soaking, and most of my cooking preparations during this time;
I also do most of my blogging during this time, unless Brian needs the computer for homework)
9:00-9:30 p.m. — Daddy and Momma catch-up on the day
9:30 p.m. — bedtime for grown-ups!

Titus 2 Thursday: Breastmilk, Ice Cream and Infant Feeding Schedules

In this season of what seems like never-ending nursing sessions, I thought I would share this wonderful essay that Mrs. Parunak wrote.

This morning’s post was written by Andrea Parunak. Daughter of the King, full time help meet to her knight in shining armor, and mother to four exuberant blessings. She blogs at Pursuing Titus 2.

There is a question that ranks right up there with childbirth method, homeschooling, and whether or not you’ll let your children watch TV. Proponents of both sides promise you a happy, healthy child if you follow their advice, and a maladjusted, sickly child if you go with the other side. There’s been a lot of rhetoric spewed back and forth, along with condemnation, hurt feelings, and accusations. What am I talking about? The mother of all parenting questions: Are you going to feed your baby on a schedule (or “flexible routine”), or are you going to feed on demand (or “cue feed”)?

I used to find the debate frustrating and bewildering. I knew what I believed in my heart, but I was disturbed by so many other Christians who just as strongly believed something else. Then a couple of years ago, I stumbled across some information that finally helped me understand how people could have such enormously different experiences with feeding their babies.

Breastfeeding is a supply and demand process, and the way the “demand” is communicated to our bodies all depends on something near and dear to the hearts of countless women: storage space.

Read more here.

Join me each Thursday as I share a devotional that has encouraged me in my walk as a wife and mother.

Announcing: Elizabeth Jean

Elizabeth Jean
born December 31st, 2009;  6:11 am
8 lbs, 2 ounces; 21 inches
~PRAISE THE LORD~
Everyone is doing fine!
We’ll try and post some more pictures later!
🙂

Christmas

Waiting for Daddy to read the Christmas Story!

The boys opening their stockings… Moma’s secret to re-stocking (ha) the snack cupboard for the year…

Helping Daddy open his present!

We were incredibly blessed this year to share lots of time with family, friends, and our church fellowships.
We are also looking forward to our newest blessing, who should be arriving any day now!
🙂

What a wonderful time of year!