Monthly Archives: February 2009

Weekly menu plan

menu plans

Last week I was feeling very uninspired to write up my menu plan, so it was only half completed and I didn’t post it.  It makes such a big difference when we have a plan for meals for the week and when we don’t, and last week I got to remind myself of that again.  Let’s just say that if I felt uninspired when there was no time pressure and making a menu was just a mental exercise, I felt even more uninspired when everyone kept asking me what we were going to eat for the next meal, and it was less than an hour until meal time.  🙂  It was a good reminder of the value of being consistent in this aspect of my home management.

Here is this week’s menu:

Sunday – breakfast – pancakes (which my kids made in the sandwich maker and named ‘mattresses’ – they were long, rectangular, and puffy); lunch – peanuts and apples; dinner – turkey, green bean almondine, yams, potato kugel

Monday – b – hot rice with milk; l – cottage cheese pancakes; d – baked beans, buckwheat cornbread

Tuesday – b – apple walnut muffins; l – vegetarian stuffed baked potatoes; d – rice/cheese/bean burritos

Wednesday – b – eggs and hash browns; l – sandwiches; d – turkey stew, barley mock risotto

Thursday – b – cornmeal waffles; l – colcannon; d – pizza

Avivah

Manual grain grinder

food preservation

Minutes before Shabbos, we got a knock on the door and found our mailman waiting with a package.  Because time was so tight, we didn’t open it until tonight, when we saw our new grain mill!  After having my electric one out of service for several weeks last time, it made me think how dependent I am on it to use my bulk purchased grains as planned.  I also thought about The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and how they spend all day grinding enough wheat for a small loaf of bread for lunch and dinner, because all they had was a small coffee grinder.  And so I decided that having a manual grain mill would be a useful addition to our pantry supplies.

The one we chose was the Family Grain Mill.  It’s not the cheapest, but it’s not extremely expensive, either – it was $120.  I wanted something that worked reasonably well but didn’t have a huge price tag attached, and this was the one that seemed to best fit my needs.  Tonight the kids all tried it out – for hours.  🙂  It was one child after another taking turns grinding, even the 2.5 year old. 

It’s certainly not as efficient as the electric grinder, but it produces a wider range of grinds (ie, coarseness/fineness).  They had lots of fun, and the flour is freshly ground and ready to be made into pancakes for breakfast tomorrow morning.  🙂  I think the pancakes will taste even better to them than usual, knowing all the labor that went into the grinding. 

Avivah

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

recipes

We made these for the second time for breakfast yesterday morning – they’re a definite hit around here!  We’re able to buy frozen blueberries for a pretty reasonable price ($1.49 for 12 oz, enough to double the recipe below), so it’s an affordable breakfast for us.  But if you can’t and you’re looking for a frugal breakfast, either substitute something else for the blueberries or wait until you can pick them up cheaply.  Don’t assume that just because I’m making it, it must be an inexpensive recipe for anyone!

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

  • 2 c. flour (we used spelt)
  • 3/4 c. sucanat
  • 2 t. baking powder
  • 1/2 t. salt
  • 1/4 t. cinnamon
  • 1 c. milk
  • 1/4 c. oil (coconut oil or butter)
  • 2 T. lemon juice
  • 1 egg
  • 1 t. grated lemon rind (substituted homemade orange zest instead)
  • 1 t. vanilla
  • 1 1/3 c. frozen blueberries, unthawed

Mix all the dry ingredients, then separately mix all wet ingredients (except blueberries).  Combine the wet and dry mixes, being careful not to overmix.  Add in blueberries last.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden.  We doubled the recipe, and baked half as muffins and half as a breakfast loaf (and my kids said we should make more next time since everyone likes it so much – to which I replied that I thought that considering they had apples and milk with their muffins, they had enough even if they wanted more!).  I’d estimate that this recipe makes about two dozen muffins.

By the way, muffins make a wonderful breakfast for Shabbos – much nicer (and cheaper) than bowls of cold cereal, and obviously lots healthier than cake.   They’re quick to whip up, and freeze well if you double the recipe and want to put some away for another meal.

Avivah

Protein intake during pregnancy

pregnancy

How much protein should you eat during pregnancy? The number that I’ve seen recommended as far as ideal protein intake during pregnancy is 100 grams, and I’ve always thought this is a good guideline.  A lot has been written about how high protein intake is linked to significantly better maternal/infant outcomes.  It also lessens the risk of toxemia and intra uterine growth retardation, among other things.

But if you’re anything like me, ounces are a lot more familiar to me than grams, and I can’t easily picture what 100 grams of protein  looks like. I’ve been assuming for years that I’ve been eating about that amount during pregnancy.  I was happy to see this chart, because it’s so helpful in clarifying how much protein that actually is!

http://www.babylady.com/pdfs/11Daily%20Sources%20of%20Protein.pdf

After looking at this chart, I realized that I’m usually below a hundred grams, despite eating what I thought was a nice amount of protein daily.  I asked my midwife her opinion, and she said many women have a hard time eating that much, and that eighty grams was a good amount.  I’m definitely getting eighty grams in, so that’s very doable for me.

But honestly, I’m not one for counting grams or making charts of what I eat – I’d probably make myself crazy if I had to figure out how much protein was in everything I ate daily .  I find the recommendations here easier to use: http://www.westonaprice.org/childrens-health/diet-for-pregnant-and-nursing-mothers.  And Dr. Tom Brewer is the source to go to for information about how diet affects toxemia, among other things.  His recommendations are similar to the Weston Price Foundation: http://www.blueribbonbaby.org/ifyouarepregnant/what-is-a-good-nutritious-balanced-diet/

How do I measure up as far as the recommendations of those two sources?  I usually have three cups of milk for breakfast (not the recommended four), and six ounces of protein at both lunch and dinner.  That is almost always eggs, meat/chicken, fish, or cheese, so it is pretty close to their suggestions.  I don’t usually use beans as a protein, because I like the other proteins more. 🙂   I try to use broths to cook my grains with, use butter or coconut oil as the fat for my meals most of the time (though I don’t use as much as is recommended), and until I reread the list, had forgotten all about liver.  🙁  I’ll have to look for that during my next shopping trip.

As far as Brewer’s recommendations, I don’t eat that many starches – he doesn’t say what a serving size is, but I eat three servings of starch daily (about a half cup each).  I think from a health perspective that grains are best eaten in limited quatities.  As you can see, they both have very similar guidelines, and to me, the Brewer and Price recommendations are doable and easy to integrate into a regular diet.

Avivah

Weight gain during pregnancy

pregnancy

I’ve been meaning to write this post for over three weeks now, ever since I spoke to a pregnant mom about it.  ‘It’ being appropriate weight gain during pregnancy, a topic that seems to be a hot one for a lot of women.  I started writing about this last night but couldn’t finish because my baby woke up and needed to be held for hours due to a horribly croupy cough.  Not fun at all, but he’s getting better now, and that’s what mothers are for, right?

The woman I spoke to wanted to know what I thought a healthy diet for a pregnant woman looked like, but before giving her my answer, I asked her what she was eating.  She told me she had a good diet, and then mentioned that she hadn’t gained any weight at all in her seventh month.  I asked her where she got her food guidelines from, and she told me from someone she knew and trusted.  Someone who, she mentioned in an offhand way, wasn’t able to get pregnant when eating in that identical way (because it was a weight loss plan and didn’t provide enough fat for her to be able to conceive).  But the person who she turned to as an advisor felt that same plan that kept her body undernourished to the point she couldn’t conceive, was suitable for a woman growing a baby inside her!!  So, she wanted to know, what did I think?

After hearing the specifics of her diet, I told her my thoughts – that she was eating too little protein and too little fat, both of which are crucial at all times but especially during pregnancy, and the fact that she hadn’t gained anything at a point in pregnancy where it was appropriate was a sign that validated that she wasn’t eating enough. 

So how much should a pregnant woman gain?  I don’t think there’s a one size fits all answer.  Obviously the overweight mother won’t need to put on as much weight as the underweight mother.   I think what’s a lot more important than how much you gain is what your diet looks like, as well as quantities that you eat.  So instead of asking, ‘how much did you gain?’, I think better questions are, ‘Are you eating good quality food’, ‘Are you eating enough protein and good fats?’  Weight is sometimes a helpful monitoring device, but not used on its own. 

My current midwife has never asked me about my weight. She knows I have a good diet, and isn’t overly concerned about the numbers on the scale as long as everything else is looking good.  So far I’ve gained about ten or eleven pounds, and am six months along, which I think is reasonable for me (especially since I hadn’t lost all of my extra weight from my last pregnancy).  But every person is different, and I have a friend who’s my height but very, very slim, who gains 40 – 50 pounds each pregnancy, and that’s right for her.   I have another friend who gains a huge amount of weight but also loses 20 or more pounds within three days after the birth (not including the birth).  I don’t – whatever I lose is pure baby/placenta/fluids (with baby no. 6 and 7 I gained thirteen pounds, and that was exactly what I ‘lost’ giving birth), and the rest stays with me. 🙂

 In any case, pregnancy isn’t the time to diet.  It’s not the time to eat whatever you want and hide behind maternity clothes either – the day of reckoning will eventually come if you do!  But there’s a lot of room to wiggle around in between pigging out and dieting.

Since my strong belief is that fats and protein is crucial, I’ll post some links soon regarding those things that I hope will be helpful to pregnant readers.

Avivah

Is saving bad for the economy?

frugal strategies

I’ve had a busy day of doing stuff around the house – I spent hours organizing a huge number of Mishpacha and Binah magazines.  Some things will be worthwhile reading years from now for my kids as they get older, other magazines I selected specific articles from to save.  The pile of recyclables is now much bigger and the pile of magazines remaining to be sifted through is much smaller, but there’s still one more pile to deal with at another time. (I didn’t get anywhere near starting the blanket covers today.)  It’s nice to put things into order and make them more useable.

Then I canned a few pounds of beans – pinto, kidney, black, and navy.  For the amount of gas I use to cook one pound, I can pressure can eight quarts.  That’s useful on days when I want to pull something off the shelf.  And then I canned green beans, but most of the seals failed because there was more fat in the broth I used than I realized, I guess.  That’s okay – we eat so many vegetables around here that there will be no difficulty in using them in the next few days.

Anyway, on to my deep thoughts from my exhausted brain today. 🙂  My dh told me about an article he saw today, which I happened to stumble upon later myself online (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28965133).  It’s front page news that Americans are saving more and spending less, which is supposedly bad for the economy – at least that was the point of the article.  For their purposes, they defined saving and paying off debt as the same thing – ie, not pouring money into consumer goods they don’t need and can live without.  It got me thinking once again about how there are assumptions made that what’s good for the individual and what’s good for the nation are two different things. But I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. 

It violates natural principles that millions of people overextending themselves financially can actually be healthy for a country on an extended basis.  Short term, lots of things can look good (and that’s what we’ve had until now), but long term, true principles will always show themselves.  Financially strong and stable families are good for the economy, although it will cause short term contractions (I’m not saying we’ll see only short term contractions, I’m saying that specifically people putting money into savings would only cause short term contractions).  In fact, if people had been responsible in their spending until now, we probably wouldn’t be in a recession, because all of our national spending would be reasonable and sustainable.

Those who are saving money and being responsible still need to spend on some items.  My own experience and conversations with others show that plenty of spending is still going on, but not on the same kind of items as before.  Perhaps those items are more utilitarian than frivolous, but irregardless, they’re buying something.  Markets would spring up to accomodate those needs, and it would be a healthy and stable market that would boost the economy, not a deck of cards ready to collapse at any time. 

I remember after 9-11, I kept hearing how it was our patriotic duty to spend, spend, spend.  And I didn’t go for it then, either.  But enough people were happy to oblige and it kept the economy afloat for another few years.  I’ve already strongly suggested that everyone work in a focused and committed way to pay off any debt they owe, particularly on credit cards (http://vibrantmoms.com/homemaking/get-rid-of-your-credit-card-debt-now/).  If there are purchases that you can make now which will help you save money in the long term (figure this out, don’t rush out and start buying based on false assumptions), then now is a good time for that kind of thing.  Otherwise, put every bit you can into savings, get your family’s personal economic situation as stable as you can. And know that by taking care of your family responsibly, you’re doing the best thing you possibly can, on both a personal and national level.

Avivah

Flannel sheets

frugal strategies

Thirteen years ago, I only had a toddler and infant and was living overseas, but when we were visiting our parents here in the US, I naturally did some shopping .  At that time I found flannel sheets on sale for $10 per twin set, and bought four matching sets sporting the 101 Dalmations on them (those were the only patterns suitable for kids).  That has worked out great over the years, since we have two bunkbeds in a room (that means four beds), and I like for all of the sheets to match.  Those sheets have seen plenty of use over the years, especially the fitted sheets, getting increasingly well worn, and surprise (!) – my ds15, who shares a room with three younger brothers, doesn’t especially want to use them. 

After thirteen years, today I bought  my kids new flannel sheets!  I love flannel sheets – it’s so nice to crawl in the winter into a bed that doesn’t take warming up.  I was at Walmart, not finding anything I was looking for, nor did I find an associate to point me in the right direction, when I stumbled upon these sheets, reduced 50%, to $11 a set.  That kind of tag gets my attention, especially for an item I’ve been thinking about getting for a while.  There were several patterns, but only the plain blue had four matching sets, so that’s what I got for the boys. 

A little further down the aisle, I found fleece sheets on sale ($12 a set).  Have you ever used fleece sheets?  I haven’t, but I figure they must be nice if it’s anything like using a fleece blanket!  I managed to find four matching sets of those, too – it took some looking though.  I got them in plain ivory, for the girls, which I thought would be a good match for their lavender walls. 

I have to laugh at how unspoiled my kids are.  When they saw me walk in with all of these bags full and I pulled out the sheets, they were so excited.  They all rushed upstairs to make their beds, and then do a big clean up to make the rest of their rooms match their beds.  My ds15 politely let me know that he didn’t like blue when he first saw the sheets, but then later retracted after his bed was made, and told me how nice the room looked.  Our bedrooms aren’t large, and I think that it makes a big difference for the bedding to be uniform in keeping things looking neat and pleasant. 

Unfortunately, when the girls opened the fourth set to make up the empty bunk in their room, they discovered that someone must have returned a defective set to the store, and it was placed back on the shelf – it was missing the pillowcase, and the top sheet had a stain and a hole!  I’m disappointed because I really want to have four matching sets, and I know there was nothing else left in the store I was at.  Maybe tomorrow evening I can head to a different Walmart and will have more luck finding something suitable to exchange it for.

When I bought the original flannel sheets years ago, I made blanket covers of the top sheets for two of the sets.  I like blanket covers.  In the winter, it adds another layer to the blanket for warmth, in the summer it can be used alone in place of a top sheet, and all year round it makes neatening the bed much simpler.  Right now everyone’s beds look neat since they’re freshly made, but I don’t expect that to last very long once they have to make them every day – it takes more time and effort to make a bed with a top sheet and blanket, especially on bunk beds, when it’s harder to get around to maneuver.  Since blanket covers have worked so well for everyone (and hide the different blanket patterns they have), I’d like to make some more with these new sheet sets. 

To make the blanket covers then, what I did then was use the flannel flat sheet for the top of the blanket cover, and a flat white sheet I had around for the bottom of the blanket cover, and attaching a zipper at the bottom center.  It’s a very easy project since the flat sheets are a standard size and all you have to do is sew long straight seams down the sides.  I’m thinking it would be a good use of materials to take apart the two old blanket covers, and reuse the flat white sheets and zippers from them to make new covers for the boys.   Since I don’t think the dalmation sheets will see much use anymore unless it’s as a backup measure, it will be a better use of them than taking up room in the linen closet.   Then I’ll see if I can find a couple more inexpensive white flat sheets to make two more matching blanket covers for the other boys.  I’ll have to look for a different sheet color that will be complimentary to the girls’ sheets (white and ivory aren’t quite a good fit). 

So today I have some work cut out for me – to take apart the covers, start resewing the new ones, and buy more flat sheets for the others.  There’s always something fun to be busy with!

Avivah