Somewhat Muddled Musings

I've moved!

2010-08-03T06:06:00.002-05:00

Check out my new blog at http://aslansavz.wordpress.com

Who has a Green Belt?!

2010-03-13T16:45:00.002-06:00

Today was Belt Test Day at our dojo, and Aiden was vying for his Green Belt.

Before:

They test in basics (kicks and basics), katas and sparring. Aiden's really found a joy for Tae Kwon Do in the last months and has been doing great!

Aiden in action:

And our proud little Aiden...getting his green belt! Congrats, sweetie - you did great!

Pajama Letter Craze

2010-02-23T12:08:00.000-06:00

We were expecting snow this morning, lots and lots of snow. So we were ready for a pajama school day with lots of reading and snuggling and running outside to play, then back for more school. The snow never came, but we didn't get out of pj's either.

Spelling is a bit of a touchy subject for us, so I try to find lots of ways to reinforce spelling while making it all fun. Today, we grabbed the Scrabble, Jr. board and realized that the boys don't like the 'baby' version any longer, but Aiden wasn't quite ready to flip the board and play it for real. So, I had them grab a handful of tiles, the timer, an a writing board and begin to see how many words they could create together, and write them on the board. Viola - Homemade Boggle! It helped Aiden with his writing, Connor with his spelling, and the both of them with their working together and observational skills. You could do this with any kind of letter tile, homemade or purchased.

A Night with Phil Keaggy

2010-02-22T05:43:00.000-06:00

Not long ago I shared with you my excitement of getting to see Phil Keaggy in concert. So last night was the night! I was excited to share the boy's first concert experience with them, and share the evening with Russ.
We left early and I was getting groans from the small ones about it, but I'm so very glad we did. When we arrived at the venue, I realized that this was the same church I saw him eight years ago at. We were some of the first 'fans' to arrive, but within minutes, the hallway area was packed with folks waiting to get in. We ended up being second row center - a far cry from behind the back pillars at the back of the church position I had last time.

Phil came on stage and started sharing his life. Last night was the anniversary of his Mom's Going Home celebration and his Second Birthday (coming to know Christ) so it was a special night for him. He did a sort of Phil retrospect..starting back in the pre Glass Harp days and worked his way up through the years. When he sang Maker of the Universe, I cried. Yep..I did. It's the first time I've heard him sing it in public, and it's the most beautiful song. I'm still in awe of his talent. The man knows how to play that guitar! Watching him play, and listening to how he uses the sampling machine to record parts to play back while he's playing can make it sound like he's got a whole band behind him. The boys got a huge kick when he sings into his guitar to record a background vocal - they thought that was so funny.

Here's his set up:

After the brief intermission, he came back and took a few requests mixed in with planned songs. As folks were shouting out requests....Connor requested Strong Tower, so I spoke up a bit, and Phil heard us, and said, Yes..Strong Tower - who said that? So I pointed to Connor and Phil smiled. "This is for the boy in blue...from your Uncle Philly". So, he went on to play Strong Tower, winked a few times at us, while Connor and I sang along. Connor kept giggling and grinning and bouncing in his seat. I looked over at Russ to capture the moment with him and saw Aiden in his lap while they were singing along to the chorus. After Phil was done and the clapping subsided, Phil looked at Connor and said, "If I can make a boy that happy by singing a song, it was worth the trip!"

He shared more with us during the evening about his family, his desire to be a grandparent more than to his son's new puppy, and his love of Christ. He did mention that it was weird for him to be in such a crowd when he's been used to singing in coffee houses and small venues in Nashville because no one goes to concerts in Nashville anymore with all the performers there. He played How Can I Thank You, What a Day, Shades of Green, Olivia, Salvation Army Band, Here comes the Sun, a Bob Dillon song I didn't know (I'm sorry Veda, I spent more time watching him play than listening to the lyrics to tell you), ended the night with True Believers, then for an encore did Let Everything Else Go and Rich Mullin's Hold Me Jesus (and yeah, a few tears escaped me again - I'm lame). I know he did more, but they're escaping me now (should've written down the set list as he played). All in all, a wonderful night with a man who admits that it's not him playing that guitar, but God playing through him. What a night!

Sharing some layouts...

2010-02-19T08:50:00.000-06:00

I don't make the time to scrap much, anymore and really miss it. Too much school stuff, too much running around, activities with the family, etc. keep me from making time. Well, I made some this morning :)

And here are a few others that have been floating around recently:

http://www.digishoptalk.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=909436&title=god-27s-math&cat=all

http://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=122247&ppuser=68

http://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=121964&ppuser=68

http://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=121391&ppuser=68

http://www.sweetshoppecommunity.com/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=115999&ppuser=68

Race fans...Start Your Engines!

2010-02-18T06:55:00.003-06:00

Well, cool them off since the races are over..but look at these incredible boys and their Pine Derby Cars!

Here are the results:

Connor:
1st in Division - Speed
1st in Division - Unique Design
3rd in Division - Best Design

Aiden:
2nd in Division - Speed
1st in Division - Best Design

It was so cute watching Aiden get so excited about seeing his car up there to race the first time. Connor seemed more interested in just collecting his ribbons (before he even raced? LOL), but Russ was most pleased with the evening having helped the boys create some rockin' fast cars!

We had a huge crowd last night and the structure was set up differently than we've done in years past. We had two heats and all ages raced against each other in the heats. Then they used the software to break out by age group, and awards were given at that point. Connor came in 7th overall and Aiden 14th. There are some serious family pinewood derby dynasties in our church. Connor's only got a couple of years left in the program, and I'm determined that next year, we'll win best in show with our amazing Tardis derby car :)

Ash Wednesday Cross Craft for Lent

2010-02-17T12:34:00.000-06:00

I got this idea from this site and wanted to do it with the boys this morning for a craft. We got to talk about where the name Ash Wednesday comes from, our first day of Lent, and fire safety LOL Connor was just a little too enthusiastic to play with the matches.

Ash Wednesday Matchstick Cross
SundaySchoolNetwork.com

You'll need:
2 unburned matches
85-90 matches, burned, and the heads tapped off.
Glue
Scissors
chipboard or thin cardboard. We used scrapbook paper, but it didn't hold up well to the glue.
Frame - optional

Take 2 clean matches and cut off the match head. Cut one of them in half (scissors work just fine)

Take the full sized match and place it in the middle of your paper. Take the 2 halved pieces and place them at either side to form a cross.

Then, at a diagonal, place matches going out (we used 10 in each diagonal segment). You'll then form the straight areas of the cross from the diagonal indentions.

Following our photo - just create the same pattern. I don't want to copy the websites instructions for copyright issues, but it's fairly easy to see the photo and follow the pattern. As soon as it's dried, we'll put the paper onto the backing, reframe and hang to have it serve as a reminder the season of Lent.

I found that putting the glue on the match was easier than trying to make sure you had enough glue on the paper, which just buckled it and was messy. Doing each match was good for dexterity practice.

The boys enjoyed doing the craft (we're sorely lacking on craft time this year), and we had a great talk about Lent and our observances....and lots of talk about fire safety and match play. However, my eyes are still a bit burney from burning all those matches LOL

Do we say Happy Ash Wednesday?

2010-02-17T07:16:00.000-06:00

I come from a tradition of faith that really doesn't have much in the way of liturgical roots, and it's quite proud of that fact. Not all Protestant traditions are that way as some are firmly rooted in a liturgical season and celebrate well, but us Baptists..in most mainstream Baptist churches and non-denominational churches, liturgy is to much like Catholicism, and we left that a long time ago. Russ and I used to attend a Baptist church where liturgy was embraced. It was a blend of the theology we embraced (for the most part) and an Episcopal-esque observance of faith. I loved that church. I can't even say why, but my soul was happy there. We did have some issues and ended up leaving that church, but my soul still mourns at times.

So, I find myself returning to some of those traditions we left behind there. I want more liturgy in our worship experience. I love the view of our faith of old..and not the new tradition where worship notes from saints gone by are looked upon as being part of 'that' style that we just don't do here. I don't know how better to put what I feel, but I wish our church, our tradition, held on to some of the traditions that they left behind with Luther's list.

So, I've wanted to embrace Advent for more than a countdown to how many days before Santa gets here. I want to observe Lent, in all of it's misery and sacrifice and ashes. Our tradition doesn't do that at all. Sure, we have the 1-4th Sunday of Lent mentioned during services, but there's no observance in between. And granted, Lent is not a Biblically mandated observance, but we Protestants don't observe those either - we leave that to our Jewish & 7th Day Adventist brethren to do. This year, we're hoping to remedy that and embrace a tradition from our Catholic and Episcopal friends...we're observing Lent.

Years ago, my best friend invited our family to observe Passover with them. It was one of the holiest days I've ever experienced. We didn't fall down weeping or spend our time with our hands in our laps never saying a word, or looking forlorn and grief stricken. We joked, we communed, we ate together, we learned, we worshipped, we hoped, we praised, we were in awe. We knew that our observance of Passover was something that had been done for thousands of years, we knew that the promise of Elijah had been made flesh (and we didn't have to hope he'd show up anymoe!) and that the Passover promise was fulfilled in Christ. We saw it as not a mournful observance of awful food and misery, but as a celebration of a Promise fulfilled at the Cross. I want our faith to be like that all the time.

Even in this season of self-sacrifice where we mourn over what we give up, focusing on how it's more about us than Him, the burden of Christ's death is something to be mourned, but his Resurrection is to be celebrated! We are so unworthy, yet His death has brought new life to us all! Surely we should cower before the Lord in all of our misery, yet I see that as a pride thing..we're just too awful for You to love us..forget us..go on..we know better than You. I do see Lent as a time to remind us that we ARE unworthy, and it seems to focus on that so much, but I see the hope in His sacrifice that we have HOPE and JOY and LOVE. So am I wrong to say Happy Ash Wednesday?!

Our sacrifices are insignificant in comparison, but we're doing them as an observance...a fast. The boys are fasting from candy..something dear to them both. I'm fasting from soda..something that is so ingrained in me that it's truly an addiction. I don't know that Russ has found his, or if he will share. I pray fervently that this sacrifice to Christ is more than just a 40 day sacrifice, but a life-long one that benefits me in the short term as well as the long term as I learn to rely on Him to deliver me from something that has caused so much strife in my body and my mind. I also pray that it does not become a pride issue for me...but that it is truly a gift to Christ...that sin that separates me from Him.

Today, the boys and I are going to make a salt dough crown of thorns to use as a center piece, and we'll go buy some purple cloth today to display it upon the mantle. I'm finding it sad that we don't decorate our house with the same fevor and joy for our Holiest of days the way we do for Christmas. There's so much guilt and death involved in this observance, but shouldn't our focus be on the fact that there is so much Hope? There is a Promise that the guilt and misery doesn't have to follow us...that we have been given New Life. We celebrate that in non-religious ways with everyone in the spring. So why don't we, as Christians, celebrate this season with even more joy than Christmas? I surely don't want plastic crosses that light up and play Old Rugged Cross, and strings of plastic Easter eggs hanging from the roof line, or to make even more of the Easter Bunny, but I do wish we saw this season for more than we've let it become.

So today - we observe, we talk about what it means to us, we give reverence where it is truly deserved. And we look, with hope, to that Cross...knowing that His Death brings us the promise of Life...not death.

A Valentine's Treat - Chocolate Lava Muffins & Snow Cream

2010-02-15T12:48:00.000-06:00

I wanted to do something a little special for Valentine's Day this year. We don't really celebrate much - just some food gifts to each other. Usually some kind of meat for Russ (he got a lobster tail, fancy sausages and some bison meat), and chocolate for the kids and I. But this year, I wanted to do a little more. I've been wanting these for weeks, and thought V-day was the perfect day to give them a try - and impress the heck out of my family..who never said a word, they were too busy consuming with big happy smiles on their faces! I love you guys!

Alton Brown 's Chocolate Lava Muffins
from Good Eats: The Early Years

8 oz bittersweet chocolate (though we just used chocolate chips)
1 stick unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 TB all purpose flour (or for those purists 1.5 oz)
1/2 C Sugar (again, for the purists 4 oz sugar)
2 TB natural cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1/4 tsp kosher salt
4 large eggs

*Heat oven to 375
*Bring a large saucepan with about 1" of water to boil
*Use your stand mixer to put on saucepan, and melt chocolate and butter together, stirring frequently.
*Stir in vanilla
(if you don't have a stand mixer you can do this in a regular double boiler configuration, then transfer it to a large mixing bowl)

*Sift together flour, sugar, 1 tb of cocoa powder and salt. (you can do this over a paper plate to make incorporating easier)

*Crank the mixer to medium speed and add eggs one at ta time to the chocolate mixer..fulling incorporating each egg before adding the next.

*Drop speed to low and begin adding in dry ingredients.

*Increase speed to high and beat for 5 min (light and creamy). (you can do this with a hand mixer, but be prepared to stand there awhile).

*Chill for 30 min.

*Pour into 12 silicone muffin compartments. If you're using standard muffin tins, coat each in butter, then dust with remaining cocoa powder.

*Spoon contents into muffin 'tins', about 1/2 way up sides.

*Bake for 10-11 min. Wen the muffins are finished, they'll be gooey. The top is firm and kind of cracked, but the insides are gooey. This is a good thing!

*You can serve this with a bit of ice cream melted and blended with espresso powder as the book suggests, but we didn't bother since we were doing it with our snow cream. I think a little whipped cream (freshly made) would be good, too.

Snow Ice Cream
(put out bowls for collecting clean snow when you know it's coming. This recipe makes about a gallon total...enough for leftovers even after the snow is gone!)

1 C Half and Half
1 C Milk
1 C sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla
15C snow

Pour snow into a large bowl, mix in rest of ingredients, and stir until fully incorporated. This takes awhile, and it looks kind of crumbly, but it does pack well. When frozen, it gets hard, but I just scrape it and pack into a measuring cup to serve.

Two - count them - TWO Concerts in one week!

2010-02-03T08:32:00.000-06:00

We will be ROCKIN' out for the Lord in two weeks, and I'm so very excited!
GEEK MOMENT COMING!!!!!!

I'm doing a happy dance today when I realized that I'm about to see my two favorite Christian performers...with in the same week!

2/21 PHIL KEAGGY - ultimately my favorite musician. This man has a HUGE heart for the Lord, and is an amazing, amazing guitar player. I was introduced to him back in the early 90's at college by a friend who said..if you like Paul McCartney, you're going to love this guy...and I did! At first, the attraction was definitely his vocal similarity to Paul, and the fact that he was a Beatles fan and had an album called Sunday's Child that was influenced heavily by Beatle music, but within a few weeks of listening, it was Phil's music and message that outshined any similarity to Paul. I've seen him a few times in my before-Russ life, but only once in the last 8 years or so. I either miss him, or some life-event gets in the way. But...this time, we're going! 2/21 - Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas!

Here's a video of Phil's 'thing' - his loop machine
Salvation Army Band

2/26 - THIRD DAY - my favorite band, yes, surpassing even the Beatles because their of their heart for service and their message! I have yet to be able to see them, though they are in Dallas every tour. They are coming as part of Winter Jam along with the Newsboys and a few other bands. And for $10 a ticket, the whole family can go without breaking the bank. I'm excited to see Newsboys with Russ, because he introduced me to them back before we were married, and I saw them here alone, so it'll be fun to see them together with him. And this will be the boys first 'rock' concert, and what a way to introduce them to it!

This is an acoustic version of one of my favorite songs of theirs.
Call My Name

and one of my other favorite songs..
This is Who I Am

There's a thing about concerts with other Christians...so many excited bodies in one room praising God together, and having a ton of fun doing it! And I can't wait to introduce the boys to the concept that it's not only Mom and Dad rockin' it for Jesus :)

A little afternoon reading

2010-02-01T16:21:00.000-06:00

I had to call a 'mom afternoon' today, and instead of napping to get through these icks, I read. I've been reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" by Mary Ann Shaffer and Anne Barrows. It's lovely. And that says a lot. Especially since, in the beginning, I was ready to throw it out for plagiarizing one of my favorite books, "84 Charing Cross Road" by Helene Hanff. It didn't. But the first couple of letters were really 'familiar'.

I'm fascinated by WWII life stories, but had never even realized that the Channel Islands had been occupied by the Germans during WWII. This story begins with a writer who is a bit lost after the end of WWII, and finds herself at odds with the literary character that fronts her life. She is surprised by a letter from a man, Dawsey, from Guernsey, who is looking for information on a book, using her as a reference because he found an old book of hers in a used shop in the island. Writing back and forth, Juliet uncovers an amazing story about the inhabitants of said island, and their lives during the occupation. After hearing about the Society, she longs for more information, and begins corresponding with many of the members and citizens - about their lives, their experiences, their fears, their hopes. She decides to travel to the island in hopes of writing a new book that is more meaningful than her future seems to hold, and in that visit, her future changes after meeting all of her new friends.

The authors used family story and research to bring together fictitious people to tell the story of how the Channel Islands were Germany's first hope to conquer England during the war, and the lengths that their government went to degrade humanity. From work-prisoners who are allowed out of their cages at night to forage for whatever food they can find, starving military men who are not wanting to be where this life has brought them, island-folk hiding what little life they have left so as not to be stolen from them, parents without children who have been shipped off to safety in England; children without parents who have been sent to the interment camps for taking care of another human, to citizens who turn against other citizens for favor from their captives.

In the course, Juliet befriends Elizabeth, a woman whom she has never met, but has only heard from through the members of the Guernsey society, and whose child she becomes the guardian of while Elizabeth is being held prisoner for deeds unimaginable to the German military - caring for another sick human being. Juliet stays at Elizabeth's cottage while doing research for book, and learns about the power of the human spirit, even when life is at it's lowest.

Even when this sounds so oppressive, the book is actually light, easy to read, full of a bit of local history as well as some really colorful characters. It's made up of letters written back and forth from Juliet to her best friend, to her publisher, to the islanders, and back. It's a lovely book, and one I won't soon forget.

We are Rainmakers

2010-01-27T07:19:00.000-06:00

We started our science project for this week, and before we knew it, it was already 1:30 - I wish all of our school days flew that fast!!

We've been studying clouds and rain, so decided to make a cloud mobile. However, Mom did not follow the directions well (recurring theme?) so our mobile really didn't do well. We improvised by creating a wall hanging of sorts on a post in the dining area.
Cloud Mobile - wall hanging

Use posterboard to create vague cloud shapes
Use cotton balls to mimic the structure of a cloud. You can do both sides of the posterboard as one side dries for a 3-d effect. Use puffy balls for cumulus cloud arrangements, small bits of cotton ball spread thin for cirrus clouds. Nimbus is a smaller cumulus arrangement. Stratus clouds are pulled thin, but not whispy. use as many of the formations as you are studying - we stuck to the main 4, and added the cumulonimbus as that is their favorite kind of cloud.
Punch a hole in the posterboard and string onto a dowel, using fishing line or thin string. Make sure to hang each formation in it's appropriate place in the sky -cirrus clouds will not hang down as far as stratus since they are high elevation formations.
An alternative arrangement would be to do the posterboard on only one side, and then place on a wall or display board.
we decorated our nimbus/cumulonimbus clouds with punch dots glued to fishing line, construction paper lightning, and cotton ball whisps made into tornados. We also used a marker to color the bottom of those formations to mimic what they look like for rain, to help make them look more realistic.

Enchanted Learning has a great unit for additional cloud information for the lower elementary set.

Friday Wrap up 1/22/10

2010-01-22T08:20:00.000-06:00

This week was hit and miss with a lot of things.

Hit: Lots of Science which the boys love - and included seed shopping!
Miss: My house..a wreck

Hit: Trip to the Lucky Layla Dairy farm - which sells raw milk!!! And has some of the best dipping caramel I've ever tasted. But can you imagine having to spend $7/gallon on milk? Sometimes, really makes me thankful that I don't even like the stuff and that it doesn't like me, though the lady running the tour of the farm said that many lactose intolerant folks can drink raw milk without issue.

Miss: Trip to the farm - hated seeing animals treated in a manner that makes me so uncomfortable. They tie up their calves from just after birth for 11 weeks until they're ready to be released to the fields. I know there is a reason to keep them separated from their mommas, but to see them stuck in the same spot for almost three months made my heart hurt. But here's one of the cute ones that had just been released into the holding pen and about to be released to pasture. There are about 20 cows ready to give birth at any time, so we may be driving by often in the next month or so trying to catch a birth!

Hit: Watching Connor take to latch hooking like his great-grandfather. Grandpa used to do a lot of needlework, which men (for the most part) just don't do. We have samples of his handiwork all over the house and in Baga's room. I love seeing it. So it warms my heart to see how much Connor has taken to this form of handiwork. He's finished two full stripes just a few days later. It helps keep his hands busy and his brain focused, especially when we're doing read alouds.

Miss: Medicaide/Insurance/Bureaucracy - 'nuff said.

Hit: Losing 15 lbs! I'm really thankful for the use of the gym at the dojo when the boys are in class. And I've been using the Wii a lot more.

Miss: that bag of funyuns last night - though Russ claims it's one of the 'healthier' bad chip snack foods that we can eat. I'd be just fine if he'd stop bringing them into the house! But, I married a salty crunchy guy who needs it every once in awhile. He just needs to start hiding the bags.

We had a fun Monday off with Connor attending the bowling party @ the local place with all of his church friends, while Aiden and I had a date, getting ice cream and then doing a tour of independent garden shops planning for our garden. We purchased a great seed viewer @ Wells Brothers
They were kind enough to give us some fresh carrot and pea seeds, which we then planted on Tuesday. Last night, one of the peas has already started it's first root.

What We Ate Last Night

2010-01-20T07:51:00.001-06:00

I love my Google Reader. I had such a hard time following blogs, trying to check up who posted when, etc., and I'm not fond of the built-in RSS reader. One other benefit is reading a ton of great blogs I would've never bothered with before..some on food, homeschooling, preparedness, homesteading and crafting.

In my reader the other day was this lovely recipe for Chicken Vindaloo. I love Indian food, but Russ hasn't fully come over to the side, just because he hasn't been exposed to it. The boys really haven't had much of it at all. One of Russ' favorite tv characters, Dave Lister from Red Dwarf, always ate chicken vindaloo all the time. So...we tried it out last night from the recipe we found in Chaos in the Kitchen. What made it doubly great is that it was a slow cooker meal!

Slow Cooker Chicken Vindaloo (adapted from Chaos in the Kitchen's recipe)

6 chicken breasts cut into strips (this was more than the original recipe called for, but it gave us leftovers for the weekend, and there was plenty of sauce for all the meat)
1 onion, diced
6 cloves garlic minced
2 tbsp fresh ginger grated *
1/2 tsp cinnamon (or use a stick as original recipe calls for)
30oz can of tomato sauce (2C)
1/2 tbsp curry powder
1.5 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp ground mustard
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp kosher salt (or salt to taste)
fresh cilantro
Optional: cubed potatoes
2C fresh green beans
other veggies

Serve over noodles or rice with naan bread or any other flatbread

* I keep a 'hand' of ginger in the freezer at all times, and just grate it into whatever recipe I need. No need to thaw.

Lay chicken breast into bottom of crockpot with onion, garlic and cinnamon on top. Add rest of spices into tomato sauce and mix, then pour over chicken pieces.

We omitted the green beans from the original recipe as I knew my crew probably wouldn't like it, and served them on the side. But you can add other veggies as your stomach desires. A non-typical version has cubed potatoes which we'll try next time.

Garnish with fresh cilantro, julienned.

I cooked on high for about 1 hour, then low for 2.5 hours. It was easy to put together, tasted great (though mr. pickypants wouldn't have anything to do with it).

Retraining our palettes

2010-01-13T09:28:00.000-06:00

I have a problem not having a bread for breakfast. It's how I was raised, how my palette thinks it received adequate nutrition (so that I'm not grazing an hour later for something to chew), and what my boys really like. We do go the Lender's bagel route, and for years, just purchased the onion flavored ones. Then, when trying to begin to make the switch to healthier alternatives of what we loved, we made the switch to 100% whole wheat Lender's bagels. We loved them immediately, and didn't miss the onion flavored ones (which is really a mask to cover what is coming).

I ran out of my freezer stock of them, and our local store has been out the last two times I've gone in to pick some up. So, I finally broke down and got the white bagels...as they were out of any other option we'd actually eat (raisins do not belong in baked food items, ever.). This morning, we had them, and ICK! I'd forgotten how awful white bread can be, especially in big lumps. I was happy to see that our palette for white bread has changed, and that in this case, we actually do prefer the heartier whole wheat alternative. The boys have stopped complaining about not having white bread for sandwiches any more - even Russ now chooses healthier alternatives when he's picking up a loaf for me.

I know when we'd made attempts in life before to lose weight, one of Russ' biggest drawbacks to eating healthier foods was that they just didn't taste as 'good' as the fast food he was so used to eating. The salt, fat, and MSG added just didn't compare to veggies and things I prepared at home. This time round, it's been really different. His palette has changed...he's been able to move away from most fast food and thinks it tastes awful. It reminds me of the Biggest Loser last night when a couple sat down to watch Jillian Michaels eat a typical meal for them. She just couldn't even gag the stuff down, yet they thought it tasted good.

Retraining is a big key! Now, if I could just retrain my body not to crave soda!

That does it!

2010-01-11T08:39:00.000-06:00

That does it. Yesterday, when doing the grocery shopping, I noticed that every single loaf of reasonably priced 100% whole wheat sandwich bread contained HCFS (high fructose corn syrup) which we're really trying to get away from completely. The loaves that did not contain HFCS were running pretty high prices, and our family goes through a lot of loaf bread. SO...I'm now ready to tame my yeast demon and get on the bread making wagon.

My other concern is how long store brought 'healthy' bread can actually last...and that can't be healthy for us. I'll make a confession here. We have a pile on our kitchen countertop that is a monster. Things can get lost in it. 1/4 of a loaf of bread was lost in it while we were on holidays for Christmas this year. It was a 100% whole grain bread from a major manufacturer that had been bought about a week before we left. So this bread was over 3 weeks old...and no sign of mold or mildew or anything looking like it had aged. That worried me...the amount of chemicals and preservatives that are in the ingredients list is one of those things we're really trying to move away from.

My biggest thing has always been proofing yeast - I'm so not getting it. Friends laugh at me (Veda & Karah - I'm talking about you!!) at how something so easy seems to be such a chore for me, but I mess up even the most basic bread roll or pizza dough recipes.

So this is my goal....to tame the yeast monster, conquer it, and put it to good use.

This will be one of my go-to sites because I love the idea of having a starter in the fridge all the time. I'm not sure how it'll translate to our kind of bread use for everyday baking, but it's a path in the right direction for me.

http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/

Any tips or hints? Good whole wheat/whole grain breads for everyday use?

My thought is to pull out the bread machine, let it proof and rise the bread, then pull it to bake in the oven so we can have more 'usual' sandwich/toast shaped bread for our days, and do artisan breads a few times a week for dinner, etc. Thoughts? Help? Steer me in the correct path!

2009-11-30T09:20:00.000-06:00

Monday's Food Report

Sweet Potato Pie ala Alton Brown

Now, I'll start by saying....I really do cook other things other than AB's stuff. Granted, we love him, love his technique, and so far, we've loved everything we've tried (though the green been casserole can use some extra..more on that, later). But I have to say, as a pie newbie, I was really happy with how this came out. I made it for Thanksgiving at my Dad's, and was justifiably out shined by my sister-in-laws Pumpkin Cheesecake (which I'll hopefully be able to copy soon!), but I was still really pleased with this pie. I haven't made a pie in fifteen years or so. And while I'd love to say that I mastered the art of pastry dough, I did use a store bought pie dough

Alton Brown's Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients

1 pound 3 ounces sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed, steamed
1 1/4 cups plain yogurt
3/4 cup packed, dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
5 egg yolks
Salt
1 (9-inch) deep dish, frozen pie shell
1 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1 tablespoon maple syrup
Special equipment: steamer basket

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Put cubed potatoes into steamer basket and place steamer basket into a large pot of simmering water that is no closer than 2 inches from the bottom of basket. Allow to steam for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Mash with potato masher and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place sweet potatoes in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with the paddle attachment. Add yogurt, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, yolks, and salt, to taste, and beat until well combined. Pour this batter into the pie shell and place onto a sheet pan. Sprinkle pecans on top and drizzle with maple syrup.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until the custard reaches 165 to 180 degrees. Remove from oven and cool. Keep refrigerated after cooling.

My Notes:

I did not need to toast the pecans - they toast fine in the oven on their own.

Deep Dish pie crust is important. The shallower pie crusts won't hold the filling.

This pie was done in 40 min in my oven to 172 degrees. I'm so glad I was checking on the crust often enough to catch this. If I had waited, it would've been overdone. I did not need to cover my pie crust a all - it didn't burn or even get overly brown in that 40 min.

This is a yummy pie, and a much leaner version of the typical sweet potato pie. It got 2 thumbs up from my boys, which is always a great measuring device for my cooking!

APPLE PUMPKIN MUFFINS

2009-11-12T07:53:00.001-06:00

Monday and Thursday are muffin days at our house. Muffins can be a really hearty, healthy food at breakfast time as well as a quick snack. I usually try to make a double batch on Sunday afternoon or Monday morning that will last us both days. If I can get in a full triple batch, I freeze the excess for use on a week I want a baking break!

We're on a fall fruit/veg. kick at our house right. Fall is our favorite time of the year, and the smells and colors just make us hungry and want to eat well! So, we mixed two of our favorite flavors in this yummy, moist, kid-friendly muffin!

APPLE PUMPKIN MUFFINS
preheat oven to 350

2 1/2 C flour (I do 1/2 white 1/2 whole wheat)
3/4 C Sugar
3/4 C packed brown sugar
1 tbsp pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, allspice, nutmeg)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 C wheat germ*
1/4 C ground flax seed*

2 eggs slightly beaten
1/4 C vegetable oil
1/4 C applesauce (you can use the full 1/2 C oil, but I prefer to cut some calories and add a little more nutrition with this great substitution)
2 C peeled, finely chopped apples
1C finely chopped walnuts would be a great addition!

(*these are constant companions to our baked items, you can omit)

Mix dry ingredients with a whisk.
Combine wet ingredients in another bowl.
Add wet to dry (the muffin method!) and stir until just moistened (too long and you bring those ugly glutens to the mix which gives you tough muffins).
Stir in apples (and nuts if you're using them).

Spoon batter into a greased muffin tin or line with paper. Baking time is determined by the size muffin you are baking, your oven and how many you put in. We used standard muffin tins that were finished in about 20 min. Check often.

These freeze really well in a zip top bag with all the air removed (using a straw inserted into the top of the mostly sealed zip top bag and remove the air, then quickly seal).

You can add a streusel topping to these by combing 2 TB AP flour, 1/4C sugar, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 2 TB butter and then sprinkling over the top of the muffins before baking, but I honestly think they're better being naked!

Apple Cinnamon Pancakes from the kitchen of Chef Connor

2009-11-10T09:57:00.000-06:00

My favorite taste is Cinnamon Apple. It should be the 5th taste in front of that poser umami. There's something about fall that makes me want to eat apple cinnamon cardboard because it's just that good.

We happened upon a great sale on Honeycrisp apples this week, and I bought a ton, so we've been on a cooking lark this week using them up. Muffins and pancakes are the easiest way to do this for us.

APPLE CINNAMON PANCAKES

2 C instant pancake mix (we happen to use the Alton Brown mix that I make up in bulk, but Jiffy or Bisquik will work)
2 C grated apples
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch of clove
1.5 C water (you'll want to eyeball this as the batter can be soupy if you have really juicy apples)
1/4 C wheat germ*
1/4 C flax seed *
finely chopped nuts would be another great addition
*these can be omitted, we just tend to toss them into just about everything. Be sure to adjust liquid accordingly if you're using them.

Mix all ingredients for no more than 30 seconds..and walk away. Really. This is like any quick bread mix and over mixing will cause glutens to form in the batter which make them rubbery and tough, which are NOT good eats! (is that trademarked...do I have to credit it to AB every time I type it?) Letting it set and absorb the liquid instead of stirring it to death is a good thing.This is about the time I get the stove top heating, get plates and drink going, etc.

Use a 1/4 C measuring device to plop down pancakes on a hot griddle pan. Turn when surface becomes dull and bubbles are setting on the surface.

Serve with sliced apples and warm maple syrup!

This was today's home ec lesson at home...sharp instruments! We learned to use a peeler and a grater without cutting all the skin off our knuckles!

It's Pumpkin Day at our house!

2009-11-01T08:25:00.001-06:00

(Get ready - it's a long one)

First off, let me wish everyone a Happy All Saint's Day!

While the rest of the US and other countries celebrate Halloween, it turned out to be pumpkin day at our household. Once the boys were up, we made Pumpkin pancakes!

I adapted these from Alton Brown's Instant Pancake Mix:

Ingredients

6 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda (check expiration date first)
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

Combine all of the ingredients in a lidded container. Shake to mix. Use the mix within 3 months.

"INSTANT" PANCAKES:

2 eggs, separated
2 cups buttermilk
4 tablespoons melted butter
2 cups "Instant" Pancake Mix, recipe above
1 can of pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 TB pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp allspice, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg*)

Whisk together the egg whites and the buttermilk in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the melted butter.

Combine the buttermilk mixture with the egg yolk mixture in a large mixing bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour the liquid ingredients on top of the pancake mix. Using a whisk, mix the batter just enough to bring it together. Don't try to work all the lumps out.

"Walk away - just walk away"- AB (seriously, at this point, just let the batter rest for about 10 min while you heat the pan, etc.

We do 1/3 C dollops onto the non-stick griddle, wait til the pancake is dull, and bubbles are formed around the edges, flip, cook and serve immediate. This usually gets us more than the original 12 pancakes, enough for all of us and a few leftover for snacking later. Serve with warm maple syrup!

*a word about nutmeg. I grew up on spice by the jar, and never knew things really did taste better when you ground them from fresh. Get nutmeg berries and use a grating plane to freshly great nutmeg for your dishes - it's like the difference between wood pulp and wonderful flavor - it does make a big difference.

Dinner was a Jack-o-lantern pizza pie from Papa Murphy's (borrowing photo from their site here)

How to carve a pumpkin with power tools!
Our little guy is all about Domo right now, so Dad thought it'd be a great idea to carve a Jack-o-Domo. We found a pattern through Think Geek, and we got to work.

(but make sure you make really icky faces pulling out the pumpkin guts!)

Then - set the man on the gourd with some power tools! Let the surgery begin!

It's ALIVE! (sort of?)

Then...Connor's best friend moved back into town yesterday, and we went on a candy hunt with their family and here are the boys - Dread Pirate Aiden, Luke Potter, and Connor-won Kenobi

How we do Chores

2009-10-20T12:32:00.000-05:00

Admittedly, I'm not a good housekeeper. It's a real struggle for me. Even in the summers when we aren't doing school, when I don't have the excuse of a packed schedule, I'm just not a great housekeeper. I have every intention of keeping my not-so-elaborate schedule going that I created with the help of a yahoo group years and years ago. But I'm that person scrambling when company comes calling. I try, but I'm rarely successful at keeping a clean and tidy house. There are times when I'm close to taming that monster, more often, though, I'm not.

However, I'm determined to help train up the boys in being helpers in the family because they are a part of this family, and it helps me out (and eventually their wives). It's part of their Royal Ambassador pledge to keep themselves clean in body and mind, and it's my duty to train them up in those ways. So...we do chore charts. This happens to be a recurring subject with so many moms that I know, so I thought I'd share what we do. My oldest is 10, my youngest is 6 if it helps in figuring out what they've been assigned to do. We change up the chore schedule about every six months to give the youngest new chores he can now accomplish and even out workloads or add new skills.

click on photo for digital element credits

The boys seem to really like this version, and it's easy for them to find their names and get going on their day. The job jar is full of assorted jobs that add a bit of spice to their day since they never know what they're going to get. They can also use the job jar to earn extra money during the week. We don't pay for chores to be done because that what we do being a part of the family. But they can earn extra money for doing extra chores. Always amazing how much more gets done when there's a new Star Wars toy coming out!

If you digital scrapbook or have access to a photo editing program that allows you to use .tiff or psd files (layered files), you can download a copy of the undecorated template for this chart here:
http://www.4shared.com/file/142218947/908e60fc/dbaldwin-chorecharttemp.html

Now - to just go and create one for myself :)

Hangin' with Alton Brown

2009-10-19T11:30:00.000-05:00

So, looks like the first post to the new blog is going to be all about Alton Brown. I didn't recreate the blog for it, but never got around to finishing it and posting before our trip, so here goes! (and yes, this is going to be kind of long..so bear with me - trying to get all the memories down before I get the scrap pages done later).

October 17-18, 2009. Our family trip to Austin, Texas to meet Alton Brown, and a few friends along the way.

We have been watching Good Eats on Food Network forever. We found this guy who was seriously funny (used all the same media references we loved - movies, Monty Python, books, etc., ) and used science to explain food - not just pour and dump recipe lists). The show wasn't about cooking, it was about the science of cooking - thus we were hooked.

Flash forward many years later when we FINALLY had a chance to meet up with him. He's just released Good Eats: The Early Years (the 3.8 tomb of food science goodness that has to be serious because it's so heavy, right?), and was doing a book signing at Book People / Whole Foods in Austin, Texas. We found out, and immediately planned our weekend!

First, we met up with some of my digital scrapbooking friends from Central Texas from Sweet Shoppe Designs!

We had a great visit @ Might T Fine Burgers and the kids had a blast playing while we sat and gabbed. The husbands were sweet and chatted and watched kids so we could 'play'.

Then, we're off to Austin! Denise (DistyD from Good Eats Fan Page) had called to say that they were giving out wristbands to AB's signing early, so we hooked it to Austin (with a small side trip to track down elusive Transformer toys for Russ), pulled up to Book People and found out we'd gotten the LAST red group wristbands (red group was the first group). PHEW!

Checked into Embassy Suites, scoped out our room and got settled with laptop up and ready, boys playing contentedly on furniture and found the wardrobe....could it be?!

Nah - just a wardobe.

Turns out, the three families having traveled from Dallas ended up staying at the same hotel w/o planning it - so I popped downstairs to meet Denise (DitsyD) and Marie (Coppertop) and her daughter had arrived.

We planned to go to Threadgills in Austin for dinner. I had the Grilled Ahi Tuna Salad (THE BEST SALAD EVER!) : Char-grilled Ahi tuna on fresh baby spinach with feta cheese, toasted almonds and dried cranberries, finished with pineapple pico and served a red wine vinegrette which was wonderful!

Russ had fried oysters, fries and garlic cheese grits (which, surprisingly were pretty good!)

Aiden had grilled cheese (surprised?) and Connor chose Chicken Fried Steak, cole slaw and a dinner salad with jalepeno ranch dressing. He was REALLY disappointed that the chicken fried steak, wasn't chicken, but really chewy and tough beef that was not Good Eats.

We ended the night with a 'midnight' swim at 9pm along with Denise's husband and daughter.

Oct. 18 - ALTON DAY!
After a morning spent in front of the mirror trying to hide my racoon sunburn from the previous day (and lemme tell you, for a girl who doesn't wear makeup, it was sure lucky that I tossed at least some base and blush in to my bag when I was packing...while not the best makeup for covering things up, it sure helped even out the burn...at least a tad), we headed down to breakfast where we met up with Dan (DanC) and his son Patrick to finish off the Briner group for the day (the Good Eats Fan Page name for members). Dan had already been by Whole Foods early that morning to check on lines, and there hadn't been any, so we were trying to strategically plan our morning while just enjoying each other's company. We all planned on meeting up at about 10, so Dan took off to do some shopping while the rest of us headed up to pack and check out.

We got to Whole Foods at 10 to find that there was no one in line which we found really odd. We went upstairs to the plaza level and saw that they were beginning to set up for the day, and were told to go back downstairs to wait (and my knees were NOT happy about that). We were planning on just wandering and shopping, but I went ahead and got in line behind a family who had driven in that morning, hoping that we had gotten the place right. In about ten minutes, a longish line had begun to form, but we still weren't sure if this was the right place. I called the group to come on by to check in, and by the time Denise and Marie had arrived, the line was beginning to get long. Russ and the boys had already wandered off in search of Turkey Eggs and whatever other treats they could find. Then, one of those official type folks came to the top of the stairs and said come on up! Turns out, we were in exactly the right place! The couple in front of us had just purchased their books/wristbands that morning, and were told to wait in another area, while our group was escorted to the front of the line! It was SO strange to be first in line (and quite exciting!)

We just spent the time chatting about stuff. We were then moved to another queue area to wait out the last hour....and the excitement was building! I had butterflies in my stomach at this point, and Russ was excited, too, but much better at holding it in.

Hey - there's AB!

After setting himself up, he said, 'Come Forth'...and we did.

After the typical, "Hi, I'm Alton.", he said he'd hoped that we'd not been waiting long. I quipped, "only about 45 hours". He stopped...looked up at me with the queerest look. When he looked over at Russ for confirmation he said "Nah, not really, we got right in", and I burst out laughing.
AB said "Phew..you could've played that, you got me."

He signed our book, looked up at each of us, saw Connor and said, "Hey that's a cool shirt you've got there. Do you want me to sign it?" (WELL SURE!) "Back here so you can't see what I'm signing." Connor threw Russ a questioning look and Russ told him "He's probably writing 'Kick Me' back there", and Alton chuckled, "No, I'm not I promise."

...and so did Aiden

At that point, we said our thanks, and Connor remembered his question (we all got a little lost with our agreed upon script once AB asked about signing Connor's shirt, so Russ never got a chance to thank him for how much he's inspired us...and inspired Russ along his weight loss journey - some of those 114 lbs so far are due to AB). So Connor asked if AB ever watched Phineas & Ferb, to which AB replied with a guarded, "Sometimes, not religiously or anything, why?" Russ explained how we'd noticed his, 'Whatcha Cookin'? sing-song question to all the cheftestants on The Next Iron Chef's first episode, with the same inflection and cadence Isabella says "Whatcha doin?" on the cartoon. He did say, 'Yeah, I might have borrowed that" with a bit of a smirk on his face. Of course, that made Connor like him even more knowing he probably watches it with his daughter, too - makes him one of the cool adults. Russ said a hearty thank you and shook AB's hand, and we were off.

Dan was the good Briner and remembered to ask Alton about creating a full length DVD of the Good Eats Live show in Atlanta (instead of the kind of messy TV 30 min version that Food Network did), and AB confirmed that there would be a Director's Cut version coming out in the near future, as well as a soundtrack of the music on Itunes since Patrick Belden's music was one of the best things about the show (Patrick is the awesome talent behind all the theme music of Good Eats and Feasting on Asphalt).

Russ had walked off to the side with the boys trying to leave, and I was standing taking video for Dan and Denise's family, and looked over at Dan and said how cool it was that his son had gotten a pick of Dan/Alton, so Dan said...C'mon! I tried getting Russ' attention, but he couldn't hear me, so we snuck back to where Alton was while he was waiting for the next fan to walk up and took a couple of shots with Alton and me. It was advertised as a no-pose photo event, but AB was very gracious to do it for me.

While Dan seemed to be fiddling with the camera (which turned out to be taking multiple shots to make sure he got a good one for me), Aiden saw what was going on, and ran over to sneak into the shots, too!

After a bit of decompressing together, Dan (Mr. Security Risk himself) and Marie's families headed off to Lockhart, Texas for some good BBQ, while Denise's family and ourselves headed into Whole Food to do some last minute lunch shopping before heading back to our respective homes.

All in all, it was a great time. We had a great weekend, getting away from home, meeting new friends, and meeting up with Alton - one of our favorite tv people ever. All that build up over the last month was gone in a flash, but we're still so glad we went and enjoyed ourselves. Aiden thought it was much too short (as did we all) and wanted to hang out with Alton for awhile (as did we all). We had hoped, earlier, that AB might do a wee little talk beforehand, but it just wasn't a good venue for even a few words to the crowd with the way they had it set up. Russ felt like AB was in great form, and seems in person just like the guy we've gotten to know on TV (sounds just like him, too - no weird vocal editing stuff to mar it up), and was very genuine during his time with us - no haughty TV personality stuff going on there. Knowing that there are at least two more books coming out and numerous speaking engagements in the works, we might get a chance to see him in that format down the road. Until then, we'll rely on YouTube LOL.

Thanks to the Denise/Bob for the dinner shots (and extra shots of us with AB), the Bookpeople guy for the AB shots of my family, and DanC for the shots of AB and me (and Aiden).

And sweetie, thanks so much for being just as psyched (but much more composed) and wanting to do this trip, too. It made it all the more special to do it as a family!

Introducing My Family!

2009-10-15T08:45:00.000-05:00

I wanted to start a personal blog again to record our family's journeys. We have so much fun homeschooling and doing all the other geeky stuff we do, and this is a great way to get it down to share with our family, to help me remember for our scrapbook pages, and to share with anyone who is interested. So...here's to us!