Times Article on Parenting

Helicopter Parents: The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting

Our latest weapon in the battle against sinus infection

The Neti Pot

Three Books

I've been bouncing around between the three of these. I like each of them so far.

A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
by Karen Andreola

This lady is a Charlotte Mason guru, and the book goes through many different aspects of CM home education and tells what she has studied from Ms. Mason's writings and ides on how to implement.

Strong-willed Child Or Dreamer?
by Ron Braund and Dana Spears

For those of us with strong willed, yet very sensitive children. This book discusses a cognitive style that is a blend of strong-willed and sensitive/emotional. It describes different aspects of this style, and has a "how to parent a dreamer" section as well. Interestingly, I have seen myself in many aspects of this book (and so has Scott). Claire and I both score very high on the "is your child a dreamer?" quiz. Perhaps Claire takes after me a little more than I thought...

CLEAN: The Revolutionary Program to Restore the Body's Natural Ability to Heal Itself
by Alajandro Junger

The "program" outlined in this book is a recommended annual cleanse where you consume very easy to digest/highly nutritious foods for three weeks, allowing your digestive system to rest from its usual labors and clear out toxic buildup from your body. The author is a cardiologist in NYC who has spent time practicing medicine in India as well, and takes a "whole body" approach to medicine, blending healing of Eastern and Western cultures. The first half of the book discusses clean living and the effects of toxic buildup. The later half of the book discusses the how-tos of the cleanse.

Let me know what you think if you decide to pick any of these up.

Snake oil? No but perhaps fish oil

A friend's mother (who is also a good friend) visiting from Canada was telling me the other day that she was just getting over the first virus she's had in three years. That's right folks, no flu, no common cold, no nothing. I asked her what her secret was and her answer was vitamin D. As we enter into a predicted worse-than-usual flu season this was welcome news indeed.

Over two years ago our pediatrician told me to give Eve a vitamin D supplement since I was exclusively breast feeding. Surprised and skeptical I asked him why that was necessary and he gave me two solid reasons:

1) we live above 42 degrees north latitude and everybody knows "it rains 9 months out of the year in Seattle"

2) our modern lives are spent indoors far more than our was bodies evolved to be

I might also add:

3) we organic do-everything-from-scratch girls don't get a lot of the fortified milks, cereals, flours, juice, etc.

I've been doing some additional research (this and this for example) on the benefits of vitamin D and I'm pretty convinced. In fact I'm going today to our local natural pharmacy to ask them more about it and get some snake/fish oil for all of us.

BTW, she said that she takes 3,000 IU per day.

(in most annoying Jimmy Stewart voice) Ha-ha-have some soup. It'll make ye' feel better.

We started the winter squash season with a sure fire winner: BUTTERNUT SQUASH AND CHEVRE SOUP

roast your squashes in the oven until soft (375 for an hour)
saute a lot of onions and/or leeks
put squash (no skin please), onions and as much chevre as you can afford into your food processor and blend away. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

When you are ready to eat some (I always make large batches) put some into a sauce pan and add vegetable/chicken stock until you get the consistency you want. Taste again and add more salt or pepper if necessary.

If you want to get really fancy, you can fry some whole sage leaves and sprinkle them on top after dishing the soup into bowls.

Bonnet

Chrissie has been begging me to make her a bonnet ever since pioneer day. I found a pattern I like here. Chrissie picked everything out right down to the color of ribbon.
I plan on making her another bonnet (but omitting the brim) with a matching jacket as soon as I can. I found an adorable jacket pattern/idea here(the pattern is by simplicity). I love the idea this girl has of making a pocket on the lining with a matching notebook to slip inside. Chrissie is always carrying notebooks around and I think she would just love being able to keep it in her jacket.

For the price of a cup of tea

As we head into serious tea weather Scott and I decided to stock up on our stash of herbal teas. I took your recommendation Mindy and had my first cup of Egyptian Licorice tea this morning and I think I've found my new addiction (Trader Joe's grapefruit soda is my other indulgence).

I also have a recommendation to give, especially if you have a scratchy or sore throat: Throat Coat tea. The two ingredients that really make a difference are slippery elm bark and marshmallow root. And it also has a licorice flavor to boot so all-in-all it's a winner.

Iron Troubles

Will had his nine-month check up today, and he tested low in iron. How much do you monitor your kids' iron intake? Are you conscientiously feeding them iron-rich foods each day? What are some favorites for young babies and toddlers?

Cinnamonrolled

I don't know about all of you, but I've struggled with recreating Mom's cinnamon rolls. Perhaps it is to be expected when the recipe is: melt some butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup and place in a pan with the cinnamon rolls on top. So last week I actually took the time to have a plan, measure the ingredients and remember them, and the results were close to what I think they should be. Of course I only did these three things for the caramel sauce that goes with the cinnamon rolls, not the butter, cinnamon, sugar etc. that go on the dough, but perhaps I shall document that another day. If you try this out, let me know what you think and we can continue to tweek it until we get it right.

Cinnamon Roll Caramel Sauce
for a pan of about 12 rolls

Cook for 3-4 minutes in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches a slow bowl:
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
Remove from heat and add, stirring until melted:
1/4 cup butter
Pour this into the bottom of your pan and proceed with the original recipe.

Best Face Forward

Here is the link to a list of "Best Inexpensive Products" by Paula Begoun. As I am the oldest sister, I am starting to feel the need to pay more attention to my skin and take care of it a little better. The day after reading this article I went to the store and bought several of the items that were listed, a body lotion, face moisturizer, body wash, and exfoliant. I've used many of her recommendations in the past and have been very happy with them. So here is to new, beautiful skin!

Article worth reading

In preparation for a Relief Society lesson I am giving soon I read this article by President Uchtdorf on lds.org and it was so good I thought I'd share it with all of you. Loves ...

Baked Spiced Butternut Squash with Apples & Maple Syrup

we made this last night...

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 3/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup apple juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 3 small butternut squashes, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, cut crosswise into 1/3-inch-thick slices
• 4 6-ounce Granny Smith apples, peeled, halved, cored, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices

Preheat oven to 400°F. Butter 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Stir butter, maple syrup and apple juice in small saucepan over medium-low heat until butter melts. Increase heat and boil until mixture is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; whisk in cinnamon, allspice and salt.

Arrange 1/3 of squash slices in prepared dish. Top with half of apple slices, then 1/3 of squash slices. Arrange remaining slices of squash and apple atop, alternating squash and apple slices and overlapping slightly. Sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Pour maple syrup mixture over. Cover baking dish tightly with foil.

Bake casserole until squash is almost tender, about 50 minutes. Uncover and bake until squash is tender, basting occasionally with syrup, about 20 minutes longer. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with foil and refrigerate. Rewarm, covered, in 350°F oven about 25 minutes, or microwave on high about 8 minutes.) Spoon syrup from dish over vegetables and serve.

(from Epicurious.com)

Mindy's adaptation: After reading some of the online reviews, I halved the butter, used water instead of apple juice (out of necessity) and only kept it covered for 35 minutes of baking. It was so tasty. Not too mushy, not too buttery, just good autumnal yumminess. And the goats loved the squash and apple peelings!

Home School and Parenting Websites

There are two websites I have been reading this week. One is a blog and the other is Charlotte Mason info/experiences. They are both by the same woman, and there is some overlap. I really like what she has to say. It has been heavily on my mind all week. I am particularly interested in "Habit Training"...habit of obedience, habit of perfect execution... I don't think I have done a great job of this. Any ideas on how to implement at this point?

ps--you can click on the sites by placing your mouse over "blog" and "charlotte mason". ~M

Freezing Tomatoes

This was given to me by a cousin who has since done away with bottling tomatoes completely. Pico de gallo in February anyone?

Boil pot of water. Turn off.
Stick in as many tomatoes as you can but still make sure they're all covered by water.
When the skin cracks, pull them out and place them in a sink or bowl of super cold water.
Core and skin.
Stick in another bowl.
Chop in half or quarter
Place in quart size freezer bags and then put three in one gallon-sized bag.
Freeze

When you want to thaw them, place in a colander and let them drain as they thaw.