A Mommy's Dilemma

I am so bad at updating this blog it's horrible. But now that Simeon is asleep, hopefully for the night...

I've had this blog working in my head since I read this article a few days ago. From the things I've read from Michael Pollan we agree on many things. And in my pre-baby days I lived the lifestyle he promotes. I shopped (and worked) at a farmers market, we ate little processed foods, and I prepared healthy food for us at most meals. I was excited about little Simeon's arrival and looking forward to introducing him to healthy foods.

Well to my dismay I'm so busy caring for my dear baby our meal times have become more processed and less crunchy. Now I love my boy and wouldn't want to be anywhere other than home with him. I'm so blessed to have this opportunity. But I feel guilty for letting our meals become less than ideal. Daniel has been eating out most days for lunch, so I really should be preparing better than average suppers to make up for whatever he's not getting at Subway. However my boy is a hungry one and to give him the best I'm breastfeeding him. So it's not much of a dilemma, I'm going to feed my boy first and then after the laundry and the floors are cleaned (important now that he's a little roly-poly and is picking up Barley's hairball off the floor- blahh!) I may throw together something for us to eat.

Seriously tonight: hotdogs with chili (from a can), tater tots (purchased by Daniel as an effort to reduce the grocery bill- containing scary chemicals to promote browning), and a salad. What has happened to me? I wonder sometimes what happened to the girl that baked whole grain bread for us to eat and cooked a good meal most nights.

I did receive the Julia Child cookbook for Valentines day and have enjoyed reading through it a bit. I even decided that I was going to cook a soup recipe out of it that looked pretty easy, well it's Friday and no sorrel soup yet. I did bake some healthy muffins for us to have for breakfast. I just wish I had more time to do everything I want to do for my family. I know I'm doing what is best for my son, but breastfeeding is pretty time consuming and I want to be supermom and do it all. I try to savor his babyhood, I know there will be time for Julia Child later. I just don't want his childhood memories of food be from a can and box, at least not all of them.

Local Businesses are best

So I don't know if I have discussed my kitchen repair projects before. No nothing as fun as beautifying my totally groovy 1970's kitchen style. I have some appliance issues. My mixer runs like a loud train, I need to take it to be serviced. And up until a few days ago my beloved deep freezer chirped like a bird. Unfortunately the chirping meant the fan motor (on the inside of the unit) was going off. And I put off repairing it, I was too busy, there was too much food in there, I didn't have the money...

Two weeks ago I had a national appliance company come out and look at it. It wouldn't make the noise, so the repairman wanted to wait and come back when it would. Now he was a very competent man, but his company is super busy. So the inevitable happened probably a few days ago it died. I called this national company two days ago and tomorrow was the quickest they could be here. Not quick enough for all my expensive organic meat!

Daniel urged me to call around this morning and I called all the companies in our area in the yellow pages. And I prayed a lot. We are going out of town next week and what would I do with my food? I guess to some people this wouldn't be a big deal. But part of my "job" as a housewife is finding food to store away, putting up strawberries, finding great deal on meats, cooking big meals and freezing some for later. Losing all my food was losing all my hard work.

So one of the companies called back, JW with Appliance Specialist. Look him up in the yellow pages. He came out, took the freezer apart immediately. He had to go get a part from the appliance repair store, but he still did this within hours of my call. I love small business owners, they care about their business so they care about pleasing the customer. Now hopefully my freezer is going to cool off quickly and I can put my meat back in there. Oh the dry ice, I had to run out and buy some to try to keep things cool. What a day. I still have to bake.

Ask for it

So I'm feeling a little empowered today. With all the craziness in our world I feel like I have gained a little control over a small portion of my life.

What did I do? What I think everyone else should do. Bargain. I went to the grocery store today to pick up a few potatoes for supper, I needed a quick starch after Daniel and I ate a loaf of bread in record time. And being I refuse to buy bread, potatoes seemed like a good option to go with my clean out the fridge quiche.

So after finding my potatoes, being I am not a man and I don't shop like one I meandered around a bit. I headed to the dairy case (my favorite place in the grocery). And what did I find? Cream top (pasturized, but non-homogenized milk), I was so excited. I have been wanting to try some of this milk but it is hard to find, and after searching for a few weeks I gave up my search. But here were 2 pretty glass bottle with a nice creamy layer on top of the milk. Unfortunately the bottles had an expiration of today, so I asked to talk to the manager and asked for a deal. Guess what? I got a great deal.

In my experience of grocery bargaining, grocery stores are so busy trying to turn over stock they loose track of items nearing expiration at times. So if you see something you want past its peak, ask. Warning: not every store manager is going to care. Some mega store employees don't care about anything but their paycheck.

By the way I decided to make yogurt with my almost expired milk, cultured dairy lives a lot longer. Plus I had some yogurt starter I needed to use up.

Is the new Joy of Cooking too joyful?

Last year I blogged about one of my favorite cookbooks: The Joy of Cooking.

Well today when I got my daily nutrition what's in the news email I spotted this article : 'Joy of Cooking' or 'Joy of Obesisty'? by Jeannine Stein in the LA Times. Lately I don't even look at most of the articles in this list because there does not ever seem to be much new nutrition news. After reading Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon I am not completely sure that all the nutrition advice that is commonly held is correct. I mean eggs, butter, red meat, and naturally saturated fat being evil when 1. they are all natural foods from God and 2. people have eaten diets consisting of these things and been far healthier than our current society. But that is a whole other subject...

But the title caught my eye so I read the article and it is interesting. I really like the research these people did. I would love to get some of these older cookbooks to use. The article mentions the increased quantity of meat and dairy in modern recipes. I do tend to use quality real ingredients, like grass fed beef, homemade cultured butter, and organic cheese. But I make a lot of stews to make these pricier ingredients stretch out. Now that we are going to have a little one to feed and hopefully more little ones down the road stretching our food $ is even more important.


I also like the point about expanding portions. Daniel and I have Willow Blue China by Johnson Brothers that we use everyday. Although I don't like the fact it is made in China and not England (like it was 5 years ago), I love it is an old pattern and the bowls and plates are more normally sized. Really some of the new patterns have huge capacities, and I'm afraid if I had a set like that I would fill them up. The bowl on the upper left is a called a "super soup/cereal bowl" at 28 ounces it certainly is! My soup/cereal bowls on the left will only hold about 8 ounces. What a difference. Now if I eat my bowl full and am hungry (happening more these days :) I go back for more.

Stroller Adventures

Ok just a warning, my blogs are probably going to be heading in a more hmm maternal direction. But I think many of my readers will understand the relationship this post has with many of my other posts. Trying to buy local and healthier products for your family.

So as I have mentioned Daniel and I are expecting our first little Rootlet (after Barley of course) in August. So I have started researching baby products to register for or snatch up if I find a good deal.

One of my dreams from the beginning of Barley's time with us has been to train him so when I am a little stay at home mom we can all go walk and get our exercise. This is going to be a challenge due to his fear of any rolling thing: garbage cans, suitcases, ect. And a stroller is on the top of the mommy supply list, talk about too many options. Now I really do like to buy products that are not made in China after the contamination scares that we have had recently. Of course, once I made that a priority my search options were narrowed considerably, Britax is the only stroller company that is making "made or assembled in the USA" products.

They sale more car seats than they do strollers, in fact they lead the field in safety improvisions. Well I found a great deal on Albeebaby.com . I found a Britax preview for $79 (was around $150 other places). When I checked around it had decent reviews, the top problem seemed to be non-adjustable handles. I figured you have to have some limitations. It seemed compact, and I drive a Civic so great. I couldn't find this anywhere in Jackson, even after checking at stores that were supposed to have it. But it was such of a great deal I took the risk.

So I went ahead and spent the rest of my baby budget money for the month and ordered it. It came in when Daniel was out of town and I assembled it myself. When he came back I was showing him how it folded up and I popped a plastic piece on the canopy. Unfortunately it was broken and not repairable. I have spent the last 3 weeks trying to get the canopy replaced, because it is under a 1 yr warantee. I know it was my fault, but why the stroller was built so cheaply I'm not sure. The company has been good to deal with and they are sending me a completely new stroller, so I am a happy Britax customer. I am disallusioned however. I think my stroller is being phased out, so much for replacement parts. And to top it off my stroller has an information sticker on it that says made in China, perhaps it was "assembled in the USA".

I really wish you could buy quality merchandise that could be repaired rather than just replaced, but all the baby gear seems to be made of plastic. And once the plastic cracks too bad. I'm sure there are better quality European products, but we do not have $500 to spend on a stroller. Maybe with the economic downturn we will have a return of quality products, I doubt it though.

Great gift wrapping ideas

Well I have been busy as usual. I must confess I am spending a good bit of time baby stuff shopping and researching. I did have a large order for some individually packaged biscotti (40 packages with 2 biscotti). I think they turned out nicely. I have got to post some pictures of my chocolate dipped biscotti soon.

I packed the biscotti in biodegradable cellophane bags tied with colorful natural raffia bows. They were really snazzy.

In the past to obtain eco-friendly packaging materials I've had to order from some place like California or Oregon and pay too much for shipping. Well I made a great discovery recently, Nashville Wraps has a wonderful selection of cellophane, raffia, kraft bags, and other eco-friendly wrapping. They are closer to me than CA, so shipping was very reasonable. The other great thing about ordering from them is they sale in small quantities, so you don't have to buy 1000 of any one item.

In addition to some business supplies, I ordered a box of 150 plain kraft bags to use as gift wrap. They were really cheap per bag, and who wants to spend a fortune on gift wrap? Add some colorful tissue paper and raffia and your gift is ready to go. If you like to keep a stock of gift wrap at home, you may want to check it out. Order with a friend and you can split shipping.

Horrible blogger

Hi everyone!

I am a horrible blogger, and I'm sure by now everyone knows it. I could offer excuses: Daniel and I have been super busy (we have), I have been baking, ect... But really if I loved to blog I would have found time to update my website. One day when my business is really kicking I am definitely hiring a personal blogger and a kitchen clean up crew:)

Yeah the picture is totally unrelated to my bread, but it's irresistable.

Muffin Mishaps

Ok so I have another confession... this "expert baker" (I laughed when I read that in the newspaper writeup) is having muffin problems. It all started when I read Nourishing Traditions that my dear friend Amber sent me.

I have never been extremely satisfied with my muffin recipes that I've used in the past. Why:

1. They are really more like cakes
   
2. They are too dense
3. I want to find a good basic recipe that I can use with different add-ins
   

So in NT there are several recipes where you soak the flour overnight in a cultured dairy product (kefir, buttermilk, or yogurt). On that note my poor husband is terrified that I'm trying to bake up some of my scary kefir to feed him. Have no fear, I have used buttermilk and yogurt. I have found that the buttermilk is far thinner than yogurt and I haven't had as good of results with this. If I were going to use buttermilk in the future I think I would use less and then increase the fat called for in the recipe. So I have had flop after flop with these recipes.

After researching my muffin mishaps on the internet it seems that there are real flaws with her recipe. This is my fourth or fifth week to tinker with the recipes and I may have a success, we'll see if my peach cakes make it to the market or if Daniel gets to eat fallen cakes all week!

Why would I continue working on this recipe? Because I have noticed in my failures wonderful flavor, soft (not harsh, dense) textures, and according to several scientific studies presoaking grains in an acidic medium will increase the nutritional value.

One reason I wanted to relay my disasters is to encourage my friends and customers out there to keep on trying to bake on your own despite the difficulties. I have people come up to me and express that they have trouble trying to "bake outside the mix box" well who doesn't. For almost a whole year most of my bread loaves were bricks. It took me a long time to get to a point where I think I can make a pretty good loaf of bread. Cooking from scratch is more work, but it is healthier and more satisfying that opening a box. So if you have time get your bake on:)

A frugal housewife & her helper

So we all know it is costing more to live these days. Being I handle balancing our checking account, plus costing all my bread I am very aware of how prices our increasing. Daniel and I have made some changes to try to be more frugal...

- My wonderful clothesline: I think I love this because I'm so sentimental & it reminds me of going to my Granny's house where she hung out her clothes. Also I get to go outside for a few minutes to retrieve clothes. Follow the link to get supplies to set up your own line, or go to your local hardware store. We have started pretty basic, just a short retractable line.

- making full use of fresh local veggies: My dear Granny & PopPop have a garden out in the country in Jones county. They have so generously supplied us with more than enough fresh & free produce.

- grow your own veggies: We'll be attempting this next year. I'm anticipating some frustrations along with the harvest:)

- preserve surplus veggies & fruits: I made bluberry peach honey jam a few weeks back and this week Daniel & I made salsa.

This picture is my wonderful husband helping me make salsa. I never would have gotten that done without him. He cut a bunch of onions for me with his saran wrap onion guard to protect him!

Let me caution you canning isn't hard but you must follow the rules (check government sites for proper canning technique). It takes some time, but what better way to make use of seasonal produce to enjoy for later.

Ahh food prices

Ok so this isn't good news for me or you. My ingredient prices are still going up. AHHHH!

I am doing what I can to keep prices reasonable: trying to get bulk breaks, make smaller loaves (many people seem to prefer this anyway), and trim out unnecessary expenses. It is a tough time to be in the food industry. Since December my dairy prices increased 60% and my flour prices have more than doubled.

I really really dread having to raise my prices. I didn't start this business to rip people off, and I know I won't be getting rich anytime soon. I know many restaurant owners, farmers, and other food people are having to make some changes to avoid losing their businesses. The point is I'm raising my prices because I have to and I apologize.

I hope & pray that these price increases will level out soon. I'm not planning on quitting my business anytime soon and I'm not planning on switching to inferior, cheap ingredients. I'll quit before I sell a product that I wouldn't want my family to buy.

The food industry is misleading us again...

This article was shocking to me. I personally have checked restaurants online menus to find the healthier selections before I eat out. And working in the food industry myself I am always honest with customers. If you are going to make something that is high in fat & calories you need to tell people. The thought occured to me, if they are going to lie about the "healthy options" how much are they lying about the "traditional meals". Shame on those restaurants.

Yet another reason to cook & eat at home.
-If you prepare the food then you know what is in it.
-If you eat at home you are less likely to overeat.
-Plus I've mentioned before the spiritual connection I believe exists from preparing your own food.

Environmentally Friendly

Now don't we hear a lot about this subject these days. And it is a complex one. I'm not an expert on the environment by any means, nor am I ready to leave all my modern conveniences behind, but I am trying to do my part to be more aware & responsible. Recently some bad news has come out concerning plastics, especially when they are heated. And it does make sense to me if you take a bunch of chemicals and form a product, some of those chemicals could be harmful. But I know firsthand in a medical setting plastics are necessary. More research should be done for sure.

Well I'm also trying to make more environmentally friendly decisions with my business. In addition to buying my ingredients from local sources and using some organic ingredients, I try to use biodegradable, natural materials for my packaging. I use paper plates for my cake, 100% cotton string, and cellophane bags. Here is more information on cellophane.
I try to make responsible decisions and right now it seems like cellophane bags are safer for the earth & safer for my customers. My labels are not biodegradable, but I'd like to find some that are. I also print my brochures up on 100% recycled paper.

I have spent some time & more trying to use more earth friendly goods. And I'll continue to research & be aware of products I use in my business.