It's the Little Things...

I am so excited!  I made my little man chocolate milk for breakfast and he LOVED it!  This might seem like no big deal to most of you (Really, Sarah?  This is the sort of stuff that excites you?  Perhaps you've lived in rural Minnesota for too long!), but it is pretty thrilling when you consider the constraints on my son's diet.  Have you ever tried to make chocolate milk without sugar?  How about without milk? 

One of the first and biggest challenges in our transition to a sugar free family came at breakfast time.  All three of my children drank juice with their breakfast.  They were already not thrilled with all that our new diet entailed, but going from juice to water at breakfast was the last straw.  We decided to make a smoothie our breakfast beverage of choice.  We've been on this diet for six months and we are all still very enthusiastic about having a smoothie every morning.

This morning I found myself missing a key ingredient for Ezra's smoothie.  I decided that I would try something different.  Here's what I came up with:

Chocolate Milk Smoothie

1 C Vanilla Rice Milk

1 small banana 

1 heaping tablespoon nut or sunbutter (I used my own recipe, any will work)

Slightly heaping 1/2 t cocoa

Blend ingredients well.  Enjoy!

Understand that this is not going to be Nestle's Quik.  If you are used to huge amounts of sugar, you will be disappointed.  I probably would have added a tiny bit of raw honey if I had any on hand.  Feel free to add a little sweetener, but give it a try without first, you might be surprised.

Quick and Easy

I am not a planner.  I admire those people (notice I didn't say those people, I really am being sincere) who sit down with a calendar and plan meals for a week or (incredibly) a month.  Sadly, I do not operate that way.  There are far too many days that find me trying to decide what to make for dinner at four or five o'clock.  This was not such a problem six months ago.  At that time I could just throw together a convenience food filled meal.  Hotdogs and baked beans?  Ready in five minutes!  Pizza (a quarter without cheese for my dairy intolerant son)?  Thirty minutes or less!
Meals aren't quite so quick and easy any more.  Like it or not, I have to do some planning.  Convenience foods are largely off our menu.  The kids probably wouldn't mind eating home made "granola" every night for dinner, but my husband might.
Personality flaws demand that I have a few quick and easy meals in my arsenal.  Meals that can swoop in and rescue me from procrastination.  The recipe that follows is one of my current favorites in the category of: "Oh crap!  I forgot to make dinner again!" 

Quick Black Bean Soup

1/2 cup onion

2 garlic cloves

oil of choice (I use coconut)

2 can Reduced Sodium Black Beans rinsed and drained

2 cans  Rotel Tomatoes Update: If you prefer your soup less tomato-y, omit one can, instead sautee 1/4 c red pepper with onions and garlic

Chicken Stock

1 T Cumin

Splash of Lime Juice

Sautee onions and garlic in medium soup pot until soft. Add Beans, Rotel and your preferred amount of stock (See note).  Bring to a boil over medium heat.  Add cumin and splash of lime.  Serve with tortilla chips and avocado. 

Note:  This soup is so versatile!  Have extra time?  Add carrots and celery and with the onions and garlic. Cook until the carrots are tender before adding cumin and lime juice.  If you like a thinner soup add more chicken stock.  You won't need too much, probably 1- 1 1/2 cups.  Or skip the stock and eat as a warm salsa. Like a thicker soup?  Put half of it in the blender, or use an immersion  blender.      

Starting Fresh

This post has been written about three different times.  Each time it has gotten long and out of control.  When you get out of the habit of writing, you tend to feel like every thought that crosses your mind MUST be put out there for the world to see.  I'm hoping to get to the point quickly this time (My new mantra: I DON'T have to use big words and formal language to prove my intelligence!), especially since I have dinner on the stove as we speak.

I've decided to change the focus of this blog to food.  You're probably thinking: "Fantastic, another food blog, just what the world needs!"  (Man, are you ever sarcastic!)  I know it's cliche, but I have a valid excuse.  I've been struggling to keep this blog afloat because apparently, I don't have anything interesting to say.  But I think I'm realizing that I need to write about what is current and important in my life.  Food may not be interesting to most people, but it has become extremely interesting to me, and I'm hoping to provide a somewhat fresh perspective.

My three year old has been put on a very restrictive diet.  There are many foods on his forbidden list including (but not limited to): white flour, sugar and most sweeteners, yeast, heavily processed meats, vinegar and most condiments.  Take a minute to soak that all in.  You're feeling really sorry for my little boy, aren't you? You might as well feel sorry for the entire family, because we decided to put everyone on the same diet.

I've spent much of the last five months trying to make lemonade out of those lemons.  There have been tears.  My middle child still regularly asks when we will be off of "this horrid diet!"  I believe that we're making progress.  The complaining has started to drop off.  I occasionally make food that the family likes, and food that I wouldn't be too embarrassed to serve to guests.   My plan is to share some of these recipes.

Well, I've run out of time.  I'll leave you (I hope there are a few 'you s' out there reading this), with a very simple recipe.  We can't have peanut butter or any other heavily salted, sweetened nut butter, so I've had to come up with my own.  Not exactly Jiff, but still pretty tasty.

Pecalmond Butter

2 cups natural almonds (I use Blue Diamond because they are completley peanut free)
1/2 cup pecans
3T  UNsweetened coconut

Place ingredients on a rimmed cookie sheet.  Bake in a preheated 280 degree oven for 15-20 minutes, stirring ever five minutes.  Cool slightly and place ingredients into food processor.  Process until it reaches the desired consistency (this will take a while, don't freak out if it looks really dry at first), scraping sides of the food processor occasionally.  Store in a glass jar or container in the refrigerator.

(Random) Notes on a Trip

A person, whose opinion I value, has suggested that my writing could be improved by organizing my thoughts in a more clear fashion.  He is absolutely right, and I am going to start working on that...but not in this particular post.

My birthday was last week.  My husband gave me a priceless gift: a brief return to sanity.  I spent a glorious twenty six and one half hours all by myself in beautiful Mankato, MN.  It wasn't a particularly glamorous or exciting trip, so I won't give you all of the details of how I spent my time.  Instead, what follows is a list of things that occurred to me while I was by myself, playing tourist in a town that I should be much more familiar with then I actually am.

*First thrill of the trip: being able to listen to songs that I loved as a teenager without having to make a loud coughing noise or turn down the volume during swear words.      

*Old, empty buildings make me sad. 

*I'm fairly certain that Univision would be my favorite channel, if only I spoke Spanish.  The first time I flipped past it there was a beautiful woman carrying on a serious conversation with a large green robot.  The second time, a group of people were REALLY happy about Coca Cola, and the third time there was the most attractive Catholic priest that I have ever seen, doing... well I'm not sure what he was doing, but he was very earnest about it.

*Why do Old Navy's always smell like wet paint? 

*You know that you're getting old when you walk into a store and can't tell if an article of clothing is supposed to be a shirt or a dress.

*Tip: When driving in a downtown area, no matter how small, look out for One-Way Street signs.  The person who doesn't do this puts themselves in a potentially dangerous and certainly embarrassing situation.  Don't ask me how I know this.

*Tip: ALWAYS keep your gut sucked in when wearing a baby-doll style shirt.  If you don't, you will be shocked and appalled when you walk past a store window or mirror. 

*I have a new found fascination with grocery stores.  I went into a couple of them just to see if they had natural food sections.  They can be hard to find in rural Minnesota, but are a necessity if you or someone you live with has food issues.

*If I see something pretty or interesting in a store, I have to touch it.  I am such a hypocrite!  I yell at my kids for that very thing every time we go to the store.

You can probably tell by these riveting thoughts that I had a wild and crazy time!  It wasn't all that exciting, but it was just what I needed.  I needed a chance to enjoy my own company for a while.  And I did, I really, really did!
 
PS After reading this back, I've decided that I really do need to organize my thoughts more concisely.  Kudos to you if you made it through this jumbled mess.  It's not pretty, but I'm going to post it anyway.  Part of the goal of this blog is to get me to write more.  Sometimes it'll be good, other times not, and I'm going to learn to be okay with that.

It's 10:30 and I can't sleep.  This is a real problem (my inner old lady is screaming at me in horror right now).  I am not a very good mother when I am sleep deprived, but my mind will not relax.  It has decided that right now is the time to write my first blog post (I won't mention the three or four other posts that I've written and deleted in the past six months). 
I love reading blogs.  There are two reasons for this, the first reason is a very good one, and the second reason...well, I'm debating whether or not to share the second reason for fear of losing friends.  I genuinely love to read about other people's lives, their children, their interests.  The world in which we live is so self-involved, so all-about-me-ish, and no one is more guilty of self-involvement then I.  Reading a blog allows me a little glimpse of someone else's life, their joys and their struggles, and it helps me to get out of myself a little bit.  I really need that (and that will be evident if you take moment to count the number of times I use the word 'I' in this post).
Okay, I'm going to tell you the second reason that I like to read blogs.  It is terrible, and I apologize in advance for being such a jerk.  Understand that I know this isn't good, and I'm not proud of myself, but I'm a very honest person, so I have to put this out there.  Reading other people's blogs let's me put on my Judgey Judgerson hat (What can I say?  Members of my family receive this hat at birth.  If you are reading this and you are related to me, you know it's true!).  I can critique writing style or topic, and I can tell myself that I could do a better job...IF I wanted to. 
Yeah, that is absolutely disgusting, and trust me, I AM ashamed of myself (also, please don't assume that I am judging your blog, and if you think that I might be, just remember that I am a big fat jerk-face).  Here's the thing: I can judge all that I want, but all of those bloggers have something that, up until this point, I have been completely lacking: the courage to put themselves out there.  I am terrified of looking stupid, of being vulnerable, and of being judged (Is that irony?  No, seriously, I'm asking if it's irony or not because I'm not real clear on the  definition).  But after a discussion with my husband, in which he basically told me to put my keyboard where my mouth is, I decided that I need to just do this.  Cue the racing brain which won't let me rest.
So, here is the first blog post.  Go ahead, judge away!  I totally deserve it.  I will probably stick with topics I know: kids, cooking and being a crummy house keeper.  From time to time I might veer into something that mainstream society finds interesting, but I make no promises in that regard.
I am hoping that I will be able to sleep now...unless I lay awake all night worrying about what people will think of me after this...