Thursday, February 22, 2007

Incredible sweater machine!


Woohoo, hubby bought me a new toy! It's the "incredible sweater machine" and it's a kntting machine (although not an electrical one, still the power to work it is provide by your own hands) Project go so fast on it! Here an blanket I made my son in two hours! (He loves smiling for the camera, what a ham!) I'm looking forward to using it some more, I just raided my grandmothers huge acrylic stash since I don't have the cash to make huge projects out of wool or cotton! Can't wait to try a sweater on it!!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Ina May's guide to childbirth

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This book is truly awesome! How I wish I had found it before I had my son. Ina May, incase you don't know here is one of the leading midwives in this country and her birth center (and community) has an amazing record for natural births. It's got so much useful info for all to-be moms regardless of what kind of birth you have, for instance, did you know that many doctors have now started to suture after a c-section in one layer rather than two even though it increase risk of harm to the mother? How about the fact that many doctors use a pill for induction that has never been approved for use in labor and has many harmful side effects? And on the positive side, did you know you can increase the room between your pelvic bones during labor by having some push on either side of the top of your hips while you push? Or that it's so important to have a place to give birth that you are comfortable with that it can make the difference between you body opening wide enough for the baby to come out and resorting to artificial induction methods? This book is so loaded with useful info for pregnant mom's-to-be it is now my official shower gift to all my friends! =) Read it! You NEED this info!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Reusable bags!


I got my grocery sacks today from this www.reusablebag.com and I already took them out for a test drive!! We go through so many disposable things in this country and throw them into our landfills without considering the cost (me included!! I can't believe how ignorant I've been!) I found reusable bags great website when I was looking for a waterbottle without PVC and thought, why am I not using these grocery sacks?!? They are cute (always a plus =) ) and very compact (I can fit the five of them in their little stuff sack in my rather large purse/diaper bag) Today I just bagged my own groceries as dh came with me but hopefully I don't get to many funny looks from the baggers when I asked them to do the work!

Friday, February 9, 2007

Feeding a toddler

While most toddlers don't get fussy till closer to age two, mine decided to start being picky by the time he turned a year old! We did mostly soft foods from the start instead of purees, so I can't blame it on a texture change. He is a complete vegetarian, refuses any meat, chicken or fish. He's highly allergic to cow milk and mildly allergic to goat's milk so that's one more sorce of protein that's out. And he's not a big fan of veggies. Thank God he's still breastfeeding like a champ so he get's his nutrition that way, but I have also been working on some creative recipe to add protein and vegetables into his diet. Here's a few of his favorites:

Carrot-Apple Leather
unsweetened organic applesauce
cooked and pureed organic carrots
spices to taste (we use cinnamon and nutmeg)

Whatever amount of applesauce I use I put 1/3rd as much carrot puree. Grease a baking sheet well and mix applesauce,carrots and spices. spread on baking sheet so it's evenly 1/4 to 1/2 " thick. bake in a oven set on it's lowest setting with the door slightly ajar until applesauce is dry to touch. Let cool slightly and peel off baking sheet. Tear into whatever sizes you'd like and store in fridge. Little Man LOVES these it's just like candy to him! The drying concentrates the sweetness of the applesauce so there's no need to use sweetened. Using a conventional oven is not the energy-friendly solution, you could also use a dehydrator if you have one, mine came with a fruit leather tray just for this purpose and it works great!

Apple-Quinoa Pancakes
1/4 c quinoa flour (pronounced keen-wah)I just process quinoa grain in the coffee grinder
1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/4 c whole-wheat or graham flour
1/4 c oatbran (I've also used baby oatmeal cereal or rolled oats that I make into a flour in my coffee grinder)
1 tbs wheat germ
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup apple juice
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup milk (rice milk, soy milk or regular milk whatever is best for you)
1 egg (if you want to eliminate the egg you can just add a full cup of milk (your pancakes will be more crepe-like but still delish!)
Mix together and cook in greased frypan or griddle. We pour a little organic maple syrup on top to serve!! (yumm) The quinoa you can get at your local natural grocery store, you could substitute extra flour if you don't have it but it gives an excellent nutty flavor to the pancakes and is one of the healthiest grains out their (lots of protein and iron) These pankcakes are so excellent that they are the only kind we eat anymore!! And so much more healthy than regular pancakes.

Fruit Chewies
This recipe is from an awesome cookbook called "Baby Let's Eat!" Very tasty cookies with no refined sugar and still nutritious!
1c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 c wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves (I used a 1/4 tsp.)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup melted butter
3/4 c. apple juice concentrate
3/4 c raisins
3/4 c dried apples
1/3 c fruit sweetned strawberry preserves

1. Oil and lightly flour an 18" long piece of aluminum foil.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda and spices. Stir in butter and juice concentrate. Mix thouroughly.
3.Roll dough onto prepared foil 1/4 " thick. Put on baking sheet in refridgerator for 20 minutes. 4. To prepare filling, chop raisins in a food processor, until they form a coarse paste, add dried apples process briefly, add preserves, proces till well combine and smooth. Set aside
5.Preheat oven to 350 Oil and lightly flour a baking sheet.
6. Remove dough from fridge. Cut into three regtangular strips about 2" wide (mine were wider) Spread filling down 1" of each strip. With the aid of the foilclose the dough over the filling, Press slightly to seal. Transfer to baking sheet.
7. Bake till crust is golden, about 25 min. Let cool 10 min. Cut 1 1/2" pieces.

Beginning






Alright, I've made the leap into blogdom. I don't know why it took me so long! I'm happy to have a place to share my musings and organize my thoughts!! I have some varied intrests and instead of multiple blogs this blog will have a little of everything!! I love to sew, knit and crochet, cook, and read. I have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 2 rabbits, 2 ferrets and a turtle named Leo. =) We live in the country with lots of great hiking trails close by and a gorgeous mountain view out my back window.


I am also a mom of a 15 mo. old toddler who loves his puppies, his mommy and daddy and being a goofball! I hope I can find some topics that are interesting to more than just me!!