February update/Celeste turns 2

It seems like I usually remember to only write things when I'm struggling, and not when things are going well (for the most part).  If things are going well, you see recipes and health articles; if things are going poorly, you see my struggles on this blog.  Anyhow, today I thought I'd just do a family update and things are going well.  Also, this pregnancy I've needed a nap pretty much every day, so my writing time is taken up with sleep instead.  If given the opportunity to sleep, I try not to miss out (unless something super fun is on the agenda).

Yesterday we had a busy day.  We got up, ate breakfast and then headed to the midwife's for a checkup.  Baby is head down, lots of fluid, placenta in good position, blood pressure and sugars all normal.  And she's still a girl! (Laura always checks, just in case previous views were wrong).  We then visited a bit, bought a bunch of apples from a roadside stand and came home (stopping for lunch on the go on our way) and came home to my friend Janine and her kids coming over for a visit.  We visited and the kids played all afternoon and then had Kirk's dry rub chicken legs (drumsticks) for supper (with rice and baked yams) and then I took the two oldest boys to wrestling practice while Greg stayed home with the little 3 and they had a bubble bath and watched some Winnie the Pooh.  Being at wrestling is pretty low stress, although baby gets uncomfortable when I sit too long in any place, so moving around is necessary.  Home to bed.

Today we stayed home and I paid the bills that were piling up, and tried to sort out our finances.  We recently were able to reach one of our financial goals, so it was time to revamp the budget, re-prioritize the funds and see where to go from here.  We've been accumulating lists over the last few weeks, so today I put them together so that we can decide what to do with what.  Greg has a big list of expensive things (bigger van, home repairs, yard work, etc.) and I have a small list of less costly things (vision and dental checkups for kids, overdue passport renewal, storage shelves/cupboards, etc.). We also (sadly) plan to sell our pickup and station wagon since they don't get used near enough to justify keeping them.  Anyone want to buy?  Lots of changes in the near future, but it's exciting too!  

Today we also went for a long walk in the sunshine, which does oodles for our mindsets.  I've wondered how going for a walk cures much of the kids' behavior problems, but I recently realized it has more to do with the time we spend together than it does with the fresh air and exercise.  As a homeschooling mom of many, I am constantly directing someone to do something.  Just as I get tired of this, they do as well.  When we go for a walk, we can leave the housework, the schoolwork, the long lists of things to do behind us and just enjoy each other's company.  I may have to remind a toddler to stay off the road now and then, but other than that, we just visit.  Lately our subject of focus has been praise and worship of God.  We've been thinking up as many songs as we can about the adoration of God, and so we sang some of them on our walk today.  We also have been reading and rereading Psalms that also show how great our God is.  I've been asking the kids to try to recognize (specifically rather than generically) how God shows Himself in their little (and bigger) lives.  It's refreshing to hear their answers, but also full of great teaching moments to learn to recognize rather than overlook His goodness in the mundane, the everyday aspects of normal life.

How to save on laundry:  buy your daughters dresses that they love, and they will wear them every day.   2 Halloweens ago I found a hot pink dress at Goodwill for Elise and she has worn that dress probably 85% of the days following.  She only wears different ones when I request that she does, for town and church and such.  Now she found a Snow White dress at the Kids Resale shop, so has been wearing it every day.  She does have a Cinderella one as well (size 5-6) which Celeste has adopted, so I have 2 princesses tromping around here on a daily basis.  The Cinderella one is much to big for Celeste, so she trips on it pretty frequently also, but oh well.  She's happy being like big sister.  She's getting quite a mind of her own about clothes, which is rather wearying as well, because she's also learned to undress herself many times each day and then needs help putting her clothes back on many times each day!

This is our little 2 year old birthday girl.  She wanted an "brella" for her birthday just like Isaac's Thomas the Train one, so we were able to find her a Tinkerbell one that fit the bill and she bought it with some money from Great Grandma D.  She was pretty thrilled.  She is also talking like crazy, and we love hearing most of what comes out of her mouth.  She is trying to be quite bossy, and two year old-ish, so we're doing our best to curb that before it gets out of hand.

Celeste loves to sing, and we often hear her singing away while she's playing (isn't she too young for that?). We have a little Golden Hymns book (from when Greg was little, my family had the same one) and so she loves "Sunbeam" and "Jesus Loves Me" out of that.  She also likes "Down in my Happy (Heart)" and "Knock, knock, knock (Behold, behold)".

James holding sleeping Celeste ("she's finally still so I can enjoy her" he says)

A picture that someone took of me one day.  Holding my sleeping big baby.  A day in the life of me!

Birthday girl turns 2.  Heart shaped black forest cake.

Isaac helping make pasties.

Birthday girl with her new dolly stroller.  It's hard to capture a picture of this girl as she's always moving.

A day at the park last week.

Luke at the park.

Cutie Celeste to finish it off.

And that's about all that's going on around here these days.

My Pasty Recipe

I first learned to make pasties in Arizona from a lady who grew up in the U.P. of Michigan.  I've since tweaked it several times to the way we like them.  There are many different variations out there, but here's what we do.  I often make and roll out the pastry on one day and then make the filling, put them together and bake them the next.  Tired mamas got to do what they gotta do!

Pasty Pies (as our kids call them) 

This recipe makes about 12-1 cup pasties, so I generally double or triple it.  You can use whichever pastry recipe you like, but this is the one I use.

Pastry:

1 lb. lard/butter/shortening/beef tallow or a mixture of them

5 c. flour (white/brown/spelt/mixture)

1 t. baking powder

1/2-1 t. salt

Beat in a mixing bowl with whips until it looks like the size of peas.

Put into a 1 c. measure:

1 egg

1 T. vinegar

Fill to the the 1 c. line with water and mix until egg is blended in (with fork or whisk).  Add egg/vinegar/water mixture to the flour mixture in your mixing bowl and switch to the dough hook to blend until clumpy.  Chill and roll out as desired.

For the pasties, I roll it out into about 8" rounds and then place them between pieces of wax paper and rechill until you're ready to use them.

For the filling:

2-3 lb. thawed ground beef

6 carrots, grated with small grate

1 onion, chopped finely

8 potatoes, grated with large grate

1 rutabaga (optional, but is the key to good pasty flavor), grated large grate

2 T. pepper

1 T. salt

1 T. garlic salt (or just 2 T. total salt)

I grate all the vegetables as they seem to keep their moisture better than cubing them.  I also don't bother peeling them, as you can't tell in the end anyhow (buy organic if you can).  It's also less work if you have a food processor.  I have a hand cranking grater that works really fast, so the boys take care of them for me.  Often if I make these for new mamas, I leave out the onion and garlic salt in case their nursing baby won't care for it.  The pepper amount is also a bit higher, so you can lower it if you don't like things as peppery.  We love our pepper!

To put together:

Mix all the filling ingredients in a big, huge mixing bowl or two (with your hands works the best).  Squish the meat and veggies all together so they're mixed in well.  Then use a 1 c. measure and put a cup of filling onto one side of a round of pastry.  Fold the top over and either crimp or roll the edges up so that the filling is enclosed.  Bake on a cookie sheet for 45 min.-1 hour at 350*F or until a meat thermometer reads 172*F.  Let cool and then wrap individually and freeze.

You can also put a dab of butter or gravy in them before sealing to make them more delicious! The picture above also shows a glaze on top of them (butter or egg or milk wash), but I don't bother with that.

Kefir, kefir, wonderful kefir!

We've been drinking kefir for a few years now, trying to increase everyone's health and well-being around here (a constant job for this mama!)  I have to say that we are much healthier overall than we were 5 years ago, although with having 5+1 kids, there's always something or someone to tend to.

One of the best benefits of kefir is it's probiotic effects on the digestive tract.  If you suffer from any sorts of digestive ailments, kefir can help.  If you are lactose intolerant, don't worry.  In the process of culturing the kefir, the lactose is eaten up and it can be tolerated by most lactose intolerance people.  If your milk sensitivity is to the casein (milk protein), the pasteurization or the homogenization, then you likely will have to find a milk that works for you and then culture it.  Goats milk and raw cows milk are alternate milk sources that many people can tolerate.  If none of these milks work for you, look into water kefir which has many of the same attributes as milk kefir.  We drink both varieties around here and they're super easy (and cheap) to make yourself.  The main jobs of probiotics are to keep bad bacteria in check (salmonella, e. coli anyone, H. pylori?), to break down foods and to keep your immune system strong.  80% of your immune system is in the gut, so keeping it healthy will keep you healthy. (source)

Kefir also makes all the vitamins and minerals in milk more absorb-able by the body, thus increasing your body's overall health.  Even if kefir is heated (as in pancakes or baked goods), the probiotic effects are lost but the bioavailability of the nutrients is still increased greatly.  I use kefir in most places where you would normally use milk or buttermilk such as pancakes, cornbread, biscuits, etc.  Kefir is also great for reducing carbs in your diet.  Because it is cultured, the carbohydrates are eaten up and you're left with just the nutrients (proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals, and probiotics).  Because too many carbs can spike and fluctuate blood sugar, kefir is an excellent alternative to straight milk because it keeps blood sugar stable (unless you're drinking the kinds that are full of sugar!)

Kefir can also reduce allergy symptoms due to the fact that it increased good bacteria and helps to heal the gut.  An overactive immune system is often a sign of a leaky gut, and kefir can not only help stamp out the bad guys that are causing the trouble, but also help to heal the gut lining to prevent future allergy problems.

I have tried making kefir from grains two different times and they didn't work very well for me. When I bought the dehydrated grains, they need to rehydrate and somehow I pushed them right through my fine strainer and lost them down the drain while trying to rinse them (they crumbled).  I then tried real grains (much larger) from a friend, but they ended up just as thick in my kefir and it was very hard to strain them out when the kefir was thickened.  

Instead of buying the premade packets of kefir starter, I just make my own from a bottle of store bought kefir (thanks to my sister-in-law R for the idea).  Apparently the starter packets only have about 7 strains of probiotics, the Lifeway brand I buy at the store has 10-12, and the grains have 30+ strains.  So, take your pick of which way you'd like to make them, as they all will benefit you. We make smoothies out of it a couple times each week (that's the only form my older kids will tolerate) and the two little kids will drink it plain & straight since I've had them drinking it ever since they started drinking milk from a cup.  For the toddlers, I usually mix half kefir/half milk in their sippy cups so that it's thin enough to drink through the spout.  Use a little jam or honey or flavored stevia to sweeten if you like.

Here's a basic overview of what I do for milk kefir:

• Put 1-4 tablespoons of kefir grains (or your store bought kefir) into a quart jar. The more you use, the faster it will culture.
• Add around 4 cups of milk, preferably organic or even raw. Milk from grass-fed cows is healthiest. Leave one inch of room at the top of the jar. (no need to scald milk as you would for yogurt)
• You can add some full-fat cream if you want the kefir to be thicker.
• Put the lid on and leave it for 12-36 hours, at room temperature. That’s it.

Once it starts to look clumpy/thickened, it is ready. Then gently shake the jar before using and refrigerate to keep.

Delicious, nutritious and highly sustainable.

Now on to Water Kefir~

The benefits are pretty much the same and the process is easy too.  You just have to remember to do it.  I bought my grains from Cultures for Health and have been using the same ones for a few years now.  Mine don't seem to grow as some peoples do, but I think it's more to do with our water than the process.  I got my grains dehydrated, so had to re-hydrate them as per instructions first.  Then they're ready to go.

-Take water kefir grains (I use about 1/4 c. for a 1/2 gallon jar) and add to jar.

-Add 1/2 c. natural sugar (organic cane sugar, Rapadura, raw sugar) Do not use white sugar or honey or sugar substitutes.

-Fill jar with water and stir to dissolve sugar (don't use hot water or you'll kill your cultures, lukewarm is best). Put on a lid loosely or cover with fabric (I use a coffee filter with an elastic band)  It needs to be able to release gases, so don't cap it tightly (yet!)

-Set in a corner or cupboard for 24-48 hours.  Strain out grains with a fine plastic strainer and repeat.

-Flavor as desired with juices or fruit and drink up.

Or drink it straight with nothing added.  Or you can rebottle it in bail-top bottles and make soda out of it. You can also add molasses, raisins or other dried fruit to it to increase nutrient content.  The grains will love you too.  The longer you leave it, the more sugars will be eaten up, but don't go more than 48 hours or you can kill off your grains.  It becomes bitter if you leave it longer than that as well  (not that I'd ever forget about it, haha!)

Here's videos on how to make it.

Here's a great list of questions and answers you may have as well.

Good luck!