Our Go-To Lunch

When we want something quick, and nutritious, that's more than a sandwich, here's what we do:

One can corn
One can diced tomatoes
One can black beans

Drain the corn and beans, dump them in a bowl and dump in the tomatoes with the liquid. Snip in some fresh cilantro, or add a teaspoon or so of dried cilantro, then sprinkle some fajita seasoning over it. Stir and microwave for three minutes, or warm-up in a sauce pan on your stovetop. 

Serve as is, as a dip for tortilla chips, or add things like shredded cheese salsa and sour cream on top of  lettuce for a fuller meal. 

This is yummy, and filling, and easy to make even for my young children. Then they feel so proud and helpful, as they provided lunch for the family!

*Some* people...

don't like their food to touch. Even when eating nachos!

In Which I Talk About Food & Poop

Oh, yes, indeedy.
I’m gonna.
Not because I think you’re all that interested, but because that’s what’s a focus in my life right now.
I’m only half kidding. About it being a focus.
After 8 children, it’s pretty hard to gross me out. And I’m finding that baby poop can tell you a lot that the baby can’t.
From the third baby on, I’ve had milk supply problems, and have “finished off” the last 5 babies with bottles and formula. I won’t digress here into the battle that has been.
I’ve always assumed (likely correctly) that my milk supply dwindled because I was pregnant. I knew all the “tricks” and herbs to increase supply, and they just weren’t working.
I was primed and ready to use all the tricks again this time, nursing baby #8. The midwife reminded me (again) to make sure I consume at least 2500 calories a day. I thought (as I always do) “NO problemo!” But I figured this time, I’ll track it. I’m not sure why I decided to, but I did.
I’m awfully glad I did! I learned in a hurry that consuming 2500 calories is indeed a BIG problemo for me! There are times that I can eat a lot of food, but that is not my norm. Apparently, my norm, from looking at the charts of this tracking app, is closer to 700-1000 calories a day. Which is NOT conducive to milk production. Which makes me pretty sure that all the other times have had this as a contributing reason as well, since I’m eating more these days than I have in years!
Anyway, on to the poop:
Changing Caedmon’s diaper these days is like playing the lottery:
His poop is very indicative of my milk quality, which lets me know how to eat.
Bright yellow mustardy poop = enough milk.
Greenish or orangish mucousy poop = not enough milk.
“Seeds” in the mustard = enough fat in the milk.
Smooth mustard = not enough fat OR baby isn’t getting “hind milk”.
Huh. Wish I’d known all that 8 years ago!
So THAT’S why I’m really writing all this- in case there’s someone else whose baby will benefit from that info.
Now, I need to go figure out how in the world I’m supposed to eat 1500 more calories a day. As it is, I don’t see how I can possibly stuff in any more food!

Everybody Ought to Read This, Regarding Food Allergies.

Considering Those with Food Allergies — Life As Mom

     I can't count the times that a scenario like this has happened:
     We are eating away from home, or having a potluck in our home, with food prepared by others. (I usually don't expect others to cook around our family's allergy issues, as they can be quite complicated. I just make enough and then if there are other things there that are "safe", then it's a bonus!) Someone will overhear me telling an allergic child "No, you can't have that, it has _____ in it." The someone will ask, and I will explain what my child is allergic to. Well-meaning someone will then say "I made this ___ and it doesn't have any ___ in it." and then offer a piece/spoonful/helping to my child. The last time it was cookies that didn't have milk. (and if you're reading this, it wasn't you- we were far away and it was someone we've never met before or since! (0; ) My child smiled a huge sparkly smile and almost took a bite. I stopped her and asked, truly interested because I'm always on the lookout for new substitutes to use in our allergy-free cooking adventures (for example, using Crisco won't work for the ones in our family that can't have corn or soy. I usually use coconut oil.), "What did you use instead of butter?" and the answer was: "Oh! Just butter! That makes the best cookies!" I agree, it makes great cookies! But butter is MILK! When you're not used to thinking in allergy-mode, you think of milk as the white stuff in a plastic jug. If you didn't pour white stuff from a plastic jug into your cookie dough, then your cookies don't have milk. But when you're thinking in allergy-mode, there can't be any butter, the chocolate chips can't have "butterfat" or "whey" or "lactose" listed in the ingredients, and so on.
     I have a friend whose son is VERY allergic to peanuts. To the point that if there are 2 pans of brownies, one with peanut butter, one without, sitting side by side (the sans-peanut butter ones being graciously provided to accommodate his allergies), and someone unwittingly mixes the serving forks, and his non-peanut butter brownie is put on his plate with the peanut butter brownie fork, he gets a fast ride to the ER, and that family's day of socializing is over.
     When you're in non-allergy-land, their refusal to eat what you are sure you didn't pour milk into, or stir peanut butter into (did you know that a lot of pre-made chicken nuggets are fried in peanut oil? Or that fish sticks have milk in them? and that canned tuna has soy?) isn't about them not trusting you, or not believing you. They're not trying to be rude. But there are a lot of things that just aren't worth ending with you saying "I didn't know", or finding out that little Johnny or Susie mixed up the serving forks.
     I don't always accept offers to cook or provide food for our family, because unless I know you are familiar with just how much you have to read the labels and decode the names of the ingredients (did you know that maltodextrin is derived from corn? and that baking powder has cornstarch?), sometimes it's just not worth it. Sometimes I do, especially if I know what you're making, and I'm familiar with the way you usually think about food, and sometimes I don't.
     I'm still wondering what to do about the potluck situations like the one we had a while back: It was a crowd of 30-40 people, most of whom were strangers. I planned all "safe" foods for our family, and figured we could walk through the buffet line that was set up, and only take things from our own serving dishes. It would have worked, (I think) except for the sweet old lady who  "helped me out" by adding 2 sticks of butter to both my lima beans and my mashed potatoes, and prebuttered all the bread I had baked with no milk. She really was sweet and trying to help, but we ended up with a few hungry children, and had to leave early to feed them.
     What would you do?? Please, let me know in the comments!

Cake Pops!

Having 7 children makes it easy for each of them to have "their day", when we do special projects together, talk about things that are on their mind, and just generally connect. I also call it "tomato staking".
(Not sure how I'll do things once #8 shows up. I've got a little while to figure something out though)
Today was Noah's day, and we decided to make cake pops. We've tried it once before, and while they were yummy, they were ugly. We learned a few things though, and were pretty sure we could correct the mistakes of the last effort.
Sure enough, these (A:) stayed together, (B:) didn't fall off the stick when dipped, and (C:) hardened properly. Success!

So how do YOU do pancakes?

Here, they're like an assembly line, with the consumer right there at the end. Pancakes are a weekend food here, when the routine is relaxed and the plans for the day are a few chores and playing together, when the likelihood for only two formal meals with a mid-day snack is quite high.

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Mmm... Truffles

I think we're going to make some truffles tomorrow. 2 batches actually: one following the recipe, and one dairy free for my sweeties that can'[t have dairy. I'm not sure how hard I'll try to not eat the whole batch before the week is over. But I will be freezing some of the dairy free ones to have on hand when we're in a situation that there is a dessert that has dairy and there are no substitutions available for the ones that can't eat it. It sort of makes up for missing out on what everyone else is eating when you have something special like that, that no one else *can* have ('cause Mama said so!).
For whoever is interested, here is the (yummalicious) recipe:
2 pkg semi sweet chocolate chips
8 oz cream cheese, softened
5 Tb instant coffee granules
2 t water
1 lb extra dark chocolate (chips or broken up bar) (I like the 85% stuff for this)
Directions:
Melt the semi sweet chips in a double boiler. Mix in the cream cheese, coffee, and water. Let cool and roll into small balls. Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler and dip the balls into it, then cool them on a cookie sheet.If the chocolate is too thick and sticky to make a smooth coating, you can add small bits of butter to it until you get a good consistency.
You can also melt a little bit of white chocolate and drizzle it over the truffles after they've hardened from being dipped to make them extra pretty.
YUMMMM....