black bean love

We’ve had a number of good dinners lately, I’ve thought. However, I have been one of the only ones to hold this opinion on most of them, so I have not posted.

But tonight! Oh tonight was sheer bliss! An amazingly easy recipe that four out of the five us ate to the last drop and the fifth still ate bites without a fuss.

I give you black bean soup. Many thanks to my sister for sharing the recipe that was the inspiration for what I ended up making.

2 cans of black beans (I used cooked dried) rinsed
1 cup of chunky salsa (we used pace chunky hot from a BOGO at Publix)
1.5 cups of chicken broth (we used progresso reduced sodium, also a BOGO at Publix)

Blend all until smooth and heat.

Finito!!

It called for blending the whole thing, I kept out half the beans and blended the rest. My children like to think they know what they are eating so I knew I needed to have actual recognizable black beans present. It worked!

The above recipe says it makes four servings, I think that’s a bit low. Neil and I only had a cup with a large salad and the kids each had a full ladle and it was gone. I will be doubling it next time, for sure.

Side note: Jacob also ate a whole little salad. I could not believe my eyes and can’t resist the opportunity to share it, it may never happen again!

This recipe was gluten free, dairy and soy free if the above brands are used.

Enjoy!

things I’ve learned at home – part dos

I’ll try to complete an entire top ten list this time. Since I’ve been writing this post in my head for a month now this should be no problem, should.

10. Ponytails rock, I may never wear another hairstyle again.
9. I actually really like wearing no make up. Worked better for me before our humidity returned, but I still like it.
8. Cooking in an oven is a significantly pleasanter experience when you don’t feel like your eyes are about to be melted shut upon removing the food from said oven (see no. 9)
7. Watching kids play outside everyday successfully tans the front of your legs and that’s all there is, right?
6. Shorts are not actually the evil I thought they were, I’ve even bought another pair!
5. I find dirt everywhere now, sometimes I wish I could go back to not seeing it as I’m still not cleaning it.
4. However nap time is used it is a gift from God almighty. (This was already known, but it bears repeating)
3. Running is fun
2. Don’t go a week without adult time! (another that bears repeating)
1. Play outside as much as possible! I keep forgetting this one and then I wonder what’s wrong with me, it’s one of the biggest pro to this job!

And here’s a bonus for you.
*every kid is different, no matter how many you have/watch! (another that just bears repeating!)

a baby girl turns 4

Dear Jena,
Today is your birthday Angel, and I am allowed to call you that. Angel, that is, not precious or blondie or heaven forbid, trixy, but Angel you have allowed. You are still a spunky little girl, dishing out as much or more as you get from your brothers. You have turned into quite the competent helper. You help me fold laundry and hang up clothes and put you and your brothers clothes away. You know where most everything is in the house when I need it, even when Grant and Daddy don’t.

Though you still have your moments of outright defiance, most of your insane stubborn streak has mellowed out, for that we are eternally grateful.

You are enjoying coloring and crafts of any sort these days. We have your pictures gracing our walls in frames and every magnetic surface in the house. Family portraits are a regular, with one brother or the other left off if they’ve been particularly mean to you in the recent past and friends added into the family because you love them.

You still enjoy laughing at every opportunity, and even though what you choose to laugh at is rarely of my choosing, I still enjoy hearing your exuberant laughter filling the air.

You are loved and adored by all of us. You are the glue that holds your brothers together. They both want to play with you, so the three of you play together. There is more about you than can possibly fit in a letter. Your depth at four is already beyond my capacity of understanding.

Just never forget that we love you, especially me.

Love you Angel.
Mommy

natural birth control

Somedays (let’s not mention which days, or how many of them there are, except to say that some of them are said days) I feel like I should record my daily life for use as an alternative, natural birth control.

See 14 year old girl, this is what your life could be like.

Exhibit A: going to the bathroom

9 month old at your feet upset you had to put her down: WWAAAAAAAAHHHH WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAAAAH WWWAAAAAAAAAAH WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH (pause for air, and resume) WWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAH WWAAAAAAAHHHHH WWWAAAAAAAAAH

Simultaneously the 2 year old outside the shut door: MOOOOOOMMMY!!!!! MOOOOOMMMMYYYYYY!!!!! Me in, mommy, me in too! MOOOOOOMMMY!!!! (insert little fingers under door)

Also simultaneously the 4 year old: Why is the door locked mommy!?!? We aren’t allowed to lock the door in this house! Open the door! (bang bang bang) mommy!!! I have to go potty! Open the door!!!!

Repeat for the eternity one minute feels like under above circumstances.

Feeling sexy now, aren’t ya?

recipe fun!

We’ve made a few diet changes around here recently (in the last 6 weeksish). We are attempting to substantial limit our refined foods (basically to when we are not at home) and add more plants into our diet, fruits, veggies, beans, legumes (look a new word I got to teach my family), seeds, nuts, and the like. This has meant most of the meals I had actually learned to cook over the last year, (since I’ve only been cooking since we took Grant off gluten/dairy almost a year ago) are no longer optimal.

For my personality, this was actually exciting. I get bored with the same thing over and over, and had felt like I’d actually gotten the style we’d been eating down to a science. So getting to learn a whole new realm of cooking has been exciting, though not without its pitfalls. Main pitfall being it took over a month for us to have a dinner anyone would actually request again. Can we say learning curve?! But I am discovering so many foods I’ve never cooked before to try, some of them I didn’t even know existed, exciting! I love new foods. Quinoa would be one of those I didn’t know existed, it’s a seed, that functions similar to a rice or pasta. I’m hoping that was news to at least some of you too!

After finally finding a winner I decided I had to share successes with all of you, someone needs to benefit from all that trial and error! So here is the first one we had at least one kid devour, no one refuse to eat, and Neil and I both would request again. It’s originally from the book Eat to Live, though I am posting my slightly modified version below.

It is a bit labor intensive, which is why I tried it on a weekend first, but we were able to eat it all week (I also put the veggie mixture on my lunch salads and it was really good) so it made it worth while for me. Plus it just tasted so good!

Vegetable Bean Burris

2-3T water

(All vegetables below chopped)

1 head broccoli

1/2 head cauliflower (had already used ours, so I left this out)

2 carrots

2 red bell peppers

1 zucchini

1 onion

4 garlic cloves

1 1\2 T all spice seasoning (recommends low or no salt variety)

1t dried basil

1t dried oregano

1t dried parsley

1c raw cashews

1/2c soy, hemp, or almond milk (we used almond)

1 1/2c pinto beans (1 can rinsed)

6 whole wheat tortillas or 6 large romaine lettuce leaves (works better than you’d think!)

Place the water in a saute pan or large pot and add all ingredients except cashews and milk. Saute for 15 mins or so until veggies are tender, add more water if you need it to prevent burning (learn from my mistakes!). While that is cooking put cashews and milk variety in food processor or blender (we have no food processor so blender it was) and blend until smooth. Add to the veggies and mix. Then scoop it onto your tortillas or lettuce leaves and enjoy!

This recipe is dairy and soy free however you do it, gluten-free if you use lettuce leaves instead of the tortilla or hard shells like we did for Grant and over all very low in calories, especially if you use the lettuce. A completely guilt free pleasurable meal, now how many of those have you had?

Hope you all enjoy!

the goory details

So I was reading about last year’s sick fun here and here and here. Why would I reread all that you ask? To make myself feel better, and it worked! By the end I was like, damn, we got off easy this year.

So here is my unchronological (is that a word?) tale of events. I hope you aren’t eating, yeah, put that popcorn down, trust me on this one. It all started when Jena came out of bed stating, Jacob threw his popcorn all over his bed and it smells bad. Having just finished up three days of sick with Grant (and no one else catching it), we had hopes we were in the clear, blind hope! That was just the beginning. We got the poor confused boy, who had never thrown up before, out of bed, showered him off and stripped his bed. I then sat in the bathroom holding him while we tried to figure out where to sleep him and he starts throwing up again, 10 mins later again, 5 mins later again. I felt like I was timing contractions and he was steadily keeping an every 5-10 min pace for hours. I ended up till 4 am with my poor little 2 year old who threw up more times than I knew was humanly possible. It broke my heart every time I’d see his little face flush and I knew I’d have to get him up to throw up yet again, I lost count somewhere around 20 times, but he didn’t stop. It was insane.

But that’s not all! An hour after he started, Jena started too! yay puke party! So Neil was up with her in the other bathroom, all night. They both finally stopped around 6 in the morning. Mercifully hers was less severe, more along the lines of what Grant had just gotten over. And they all wake up fine the next morning, read that as they all wake up with way more energy than their seriously sleep deprived parents. Yeah you read that right, he pukes 20+ times, all night long, and is up playing with blocks only 2 hours past normal wake up time like nothing had happened. Then the next night Neil and I were both up nauseous all night and Jacob throws up again, totally random as he’d been fine all day. So after Neil and I finished our lovely night we couldn’t move the next day. Two nights of no sleep and now emptying our entire bodies on top of it. Mercifully children that just got over the stomach bug don’t want to eat much and we made it through the day.

So in summary, five days after Grant first threw up the toilet had been used 40+ times for things you don’t want to know about (but look how much you already know!) Five days, like a whirlwind, and we thought we were done.

But not yet! Two days later Jacob mysteriously throws up at dinner, and are you sitting down…I caught it in my hand. I did grab a towel first, but it was in my hand! How far I’d come in just one little week. I could not even be in the bathroom with Grant one week prior and Neil spent the night up with him while he threw up. I can’t stand the sight, smell, sound of someone throwing up and now I’m catching it in my hand! I am simultaneously appalled and proud of myself. So we thought he ate too much that day, that’s all. Except two days later, he did it again! Only this time in the middle of the night, while he was at my parents so we could have an over night anniversary outing (which I also neglected to write about, yay for 9 years and new tattoos!) He seems to be doing ok now, its been three days so we should be safe…right?

But I can’t leave with all doom and gloom, there were actually some bright spots. Amidst it all (ok mostly the beginning before it was too bad) I was finding the silver lining. Here are a few of my observations.

Something told me to put Jena’s hair up the first time she got up to go potty while I was in the bathroom with Jacob. You know, just in case, and I actually listened! So no miles of puke hair to wash, that girl’s got some hair.

I also cleaned our toilet good after they were all done, you know just in case it did hit Neil and I. I, of course, got stuck in the kids bathroom (which didn’t get cleaned), but at least Neil appreciated it.

Since it happened right as the time changed the kids actually slept in those two nights where I slept none.

It was fast! I would much rather do hard and fast and get it over with, than dragging it out forever. So grateful.

It made me a little sad, knowing all Grant’s had to go through to gain his experience with throwing up, but it has paid off. He took it all in stride, even taking himself to the bathroom in the night and not waking us (I woke Neil to go to him when I heard him, but after talking to Grant in the morning found there were times I didn’t even hear). He acted like it was nothing, he thought it was funny how much I hate/fear throwing up, it’s no big deal mom. Wow. I am uber impressed with him.

Finally, thank all of you that were praying and talking to us via Facebook. It really did help knowing somebody knew our misery and cared.

I call this praying mantis

So my mom took one or some of the kids to IKEA a while back (hence why I don’t remember who or how many went!), and they came back with those wooden posable dolls. I’m not really sure what you are supposed to do with them or why my daughter fell in love with them. But she more recently decided hers must be painted. After it was painted, I thought, it must be posed.

I call this ‘praying mantis’

I was laughing so hard I could barely take the picture, but I pressed on through countless blurry pictures, for your sake!

Please somebody tell me they get that movie reference? YouTube is apparently to young for the praying mantis and/or too obsessed with real praying mantises (is that right? mantises? mantisi? maybe? maybe not) for me to find the movie clip. I have now dated myself.