The Money Beets

First rule in road-side beet sales: Put the most attractive beets on top. Those that make you pull the car over and go, "Wow, I need this beet right now." Those are the money beets.

-Dwight Schrute

If you read Suzy's blog and wanted to go out and buy and roast beets right away be warned--hers were the money beets. This post is about how beets taste like dirt. Sorry Dwight.

The thing I love about being in an organic co-op and a farm box program is that it forces encourages us to try new fruits and vegetables. Ones we might end up loving. Kale, for one, I will try again. This week we got beets. I was optimistic. Then I was really excited when my friend Sarah (you know, the fellow sewing, cloth diapering, classical schooling, army wife married to a Jesse with a baby Adeline- that one) sent me the recipe for "Beet Cupcakes". I got so excited that I took pictures along the way, and planned on posting them "Pioneer Woman Style".

The verdict. It was exciting to make them. The pink batter was beautiful. The icing was delicious (of course! It was cream cheese frosting) and the cupcakes were OK, with the lovely aftertaste of. . . . dirt.

So, since I have no idea who would choose to make these and eat them and I scratched the whole photo tutorial idea.

But the kids actually liked them. Si, in particular, couldn't get enough batter OR cupcakes (even as "muffins" aka without frosting!) But I guess that's a two year old boy for you.

"Tastes like dirt?! Sure! I'll take two!"

Food. Lots of talk about food.

So, in order to get back into blogging, and after reading Suzanne's yummy story about beets, today I'm going to talk about food. One of my themes lately has been "real food." I have been trying my hardest to stay away from prepackaged, convenient items with long lists of ingredients. I'll tell you it's all about my kids' health. But if you know me, you probably know I am also a bit of a control freak. I LOVE the idea of being able to control exactly what goes in my menu. As I mentioned before, I have given up this in favor of some cream and splenda. But I haven't mentioned that I have almost completely given up this. I know. Wow.

While not too picky about organic verses non-organic food (except for those pesky hormones in some dairy and poultry) my main goal for produce is to buy as local and seasonally as I can find. Now, I don't know that we can give up bananas. But I can hold off for a while on tomatoes--you can't tell me that a tomato in January tastes real. One place I am going for real food is a local organic farm. I got my first box of fruits and vegetables Friday and ooooh it was exciting!!! The children ate every carrot straight from the box before supper. I just have to figure out some good recipes for Kale and Swiss Chard, good winter greens.

Tonight I had my sweet friend and her children over for dinner. (side note: Her name is Sarah. Her husband is Jesse. They are in the army and live in our town. They have a daughter in preschool at Ella's school and a younger one named Adeline. Crazy, huh! We have a the same taste in fabrics and have jumped into sewing, cloth diapering and better eating together. What a blessing!) Anyway, today at the commissary I tried not to buy anything that i could make at home. That included flavored rice packets, soups, yogurt, refried beans, even cereal. And you know what? It paid off! I was happy with my grocery bill and really enjoyed my time cooking at home. I'm thankful that my job as a stay at home mom allows me the time and flexibility I need to fix these menus. I know it's not for everybody. But I'm a big fan of "Do what you can, and don't worry about the rest." And I'm also a big fan of "If I don't want to cook supper and I want Jess to take us out I just say 'We can have salad or eggs tonight.'"

Wanna know what was on the menu tonight?

Chicken and bean tacos--I roasted a chicken yesterday, and mixed half of the meat with some spices. The rest of the chicken will be good for the next few lunches.

The bean recipe was from here. The rice, I adapted from this yummy post from Pioneer Woman (soon I'm going to make the whole Mexican lasagna described--it looks soooo yummy). The kids didn't like it--i think it looked too tomato-y. But I loved it. Add some lettuce, salsa, cheese, and, oh yes! My favorite part! I strained some homemade yogurt in a coffee filter and had some delicious "sour cream"! (I really would have bought sour cream, but I just forgot it--I'm not that picky)

Wait. That wasn't my favorite part. This was my favorite part. But I can't take credit. Sarah brought this (she found the recipe here). And do you know what she did? She brought the cake early and left me alone with it while she ran errands. What was she thinking?!

I promise I just took the wrapping off so I could get a better picture. But it smelled soooo good. So I just had to have a tiny taste.

Stay tuned--hopefully tomorrow I'll post Menu Planning M-Thursdays. Although I might forget, as my mind will be excitedly thinking about the return of the worst show ever (reverse psychology-works every time.) In the meantime, I'd love to hear about what you're cooking!

And since you've made it through this totally kid-less post without complaining, I'll give you a little Addie Lou pic. Guess who's turning 9 months tomorrow?!?!

Try It Tuesday

Jess came home to a few changes around here. I've been taking "baby green" steps, feeling like a little is better than nothing, and maybe, eventually, we'll be living out of our vegetable-oil run motor home. The cloth diapers, the organic milk, the new cleaning products and body care products. . . and this one: Soap nuts!

The soap nut is just that: the dried fruit of the Chinese Soapberry tree. These have been used as a natural, safe detergent for thousands of years. I admit it took me a while to try these. My friend, Julie has been using them to wash her diapers for a while and recommended them when I was having issues with detergent buildup in my diapers (there are many chemicals left behind on our clothes after washing and mixing them with urine is really, REALLY stinky.) When my friend and cloth diapering/sewing/crafting cohort Sarah told me they were available at Brighter Day and I wouldn't have to order them, I ran out there, picked up my bag of soap nuts and had an avocado and bean sprout sandwich (OK I'm getting closer to that granola girl. . . ). As long as I don't have to have them shipped they are no more expensive than other high quality detergents and they really do work. I have been saving them for my diapers, because I am afraid Brighter Day will run out, but they do the trick!

To go along with my soap nuts, I also bought a couple of wool dryer balls (suggested by the aforementioned cloth-diapering-Sarah) from a work at home mom who gets her wool straight from the sheep farm. These replace dryer sheets in our house, and, although they don't work quite as well, I've been told I would see more results if I used more than the two I have.

So what new things have you tried lately?

Trying new things

Just thought I'd share an update on the cloth diapers. I really do like them. I've dealt with a few "dirty" ones and it wasn't too bad. Adeline wears them all the time, and Si, just when I'm pretty sure he's done all his business. I wash them every 2 days. Today I noticed they stunk, so I washed them again and rinsed and rinsed and now they smell fresh.

Although Adeline's booty is pretty big in these, I love the one-size diapers cause the littles can share them. Snaps in the front change the size.

here are the littles in their freshly laundered diapers:

ready to go!

and now, a new favorite snack. Ok, maybe not favorite. But Sam and I are lovin edamame! Ella will eat some, and Si really hates it. Sam's always been the one eager to try new foods. This is one you should try. We just bought it in the freezer section, followed the directions to cook it in the microwave, salted it, and they are ready to pop and eat (you don't eat the husk). We keep them in the fridge and pull them out for a healthy snack. Or we run to sonic for a cherry limeade cream slush.

I Like Big Butts and i Cannot Lie. . .

I know, it's a little crass, but it's been going through my head. Tonight i took the plunge and bought my first batch of cloth diapers (a little plug for http://www.mom4life.com/ i love the website, love the stuff, and want to be friends with the owner). So I thought I would post a few pics of our little girl in her one "trial" diaper we've been using (you can see where the big butt song entered my head). These are also the first pics of her holding her head up like a big girl. I think i took these around the 8th of June, so she was almost 8 weeks.

I forgot to take my camera with me today, but we had a lot of fun with the kids. First we went to the Farmer's Market. Even on a Monday there was plenty to see. Bought some squash and zucchini, and a purple cauliflower that our oldest found interesting. took a close look at some blueberry, blackberry, pepper and okra plants. I've been trying to teach the children that food doesn't just show up on our plate, clothes on our bodies, toys in our rooms, etc (and for that matter, trash doesn't just disappear into the garbage truck). So the farmer's market was a great teaching tool.

Now, here's where the inconsistencies come in: the next thing we did was drive through the McDonald's to pick up our picnic lunch. I guess we're all still trying to get the hang of this stuff.

PS. I'd like to dedicate this post to my friend, julie. She does not have a big butt, but she has inspired me in all things healthy and green.