A mother's day with a helping of ranch dressing

Today was fairly decent.  It was Mother's Day.  Perhaps a made up holiday but fun nonetheless.  I received a drawing and a poem from my daughter, telling me what a great mom I was and how much she loved me.  The rest of the day was mundane, with eating, scolding for not eating and hugs to make up for the temper.  

I don't know if every mother does this, but I find myself being judged as to what kind of mother I am.  I am a good mother, I believe, and I do my very best at my one job.  Why then, do these outside judgmentals, make me ponder if I'm doing my mothering correctly?  I wonder if they judge themselves as to what kind of parents they are.  If we start judging others then we should be ready to be judged by others, don't you think.  Would they like it if I started pointing out their flaws in raising their child? 

It is exhausting physically and emotionally being a mother in this time and age.  I have little help.  I am a chauffeur, chef, laundromat, cleaner and personal assistant all wrapped in one pretty little package.  My mother did the same for me so I do the same for my kids.  I appreciate my mother who raised three daughters and now six grand kids.  She is tired and sometimes ill-tempered but I now know why.  She gave herself selflessly to her childrens' needs.  

We buy gifts for our mothers on this day and other occasions but most of all, what they really need is a hug from their kids and once in a while, being told, 'hey, you're doing a good job being a mom and I know its tough.'  That would make their day and most probably make us all even better moms.

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As promised, our day ended with homemade ranch dressing.  Very easy and very delicious.  My daughter's smile after tasting the ranch dressing was the best moment of the day.

Ranch Dressing

Mayonnaise

Goat's milk Kefir or yogurt or sour cream

Salt, pepper to taste

Garlic powder or minced garlic

Mix ingredients together.  Mayonnaise and sour cream/kefir/yogurt in almost equal quantities.  Salt, garlic, pepper or other seasoning according to taste.  It tastes great and no additives.

Getting There

The last week has been exhausting.  I've had to make sure that my daughter eats the right things and doesn't eat the wrong things and takes all her vitamins.  It is a lot of pressure and responsibility.

Our eating habits are changing.  We are very conscious of what we are buying and consuming.  My daughter has starting reading labels for everything.  Before we would just read the labels for sugar content and calories.  Now we look for corn or corn syrup and if there is any, then its a 'no no'.  With the store bought items on the 'wrong' list, my daughter has requested me to make ranch dressing and taffy for her.  Again, more work for me but this is not that difficult a request as it turns out.  I discovered ranch dressing is just mayonnaise with sour cream which I can easily replace with goat's milk yogurt.  Taffy is not too difficult once corn syrup is replaced with molasses.  So the next few days are going to be some new experimental recipes for us. 

We have discovered close replacements for her favorite foods like instead of wheat pasta, she now has brown rice pasta with goat cheese.  I have made a  pot of chicken stock which I put in the pasta or rice, thus adding more nutrients.  She has chicken and fish too with the rice and of course some salad of some sort to balance it all out.  Dessert is fruit.  I will be trying sorbet soon.  Today, I used my new food processor and made salad and vegetable casserole.  It was quick, easy and a good investment, I believe.  Next step, is to try pastry and cakes with brown rice flour.  Sorbet and smoothies are also a good option to get the fruit in.  But none of this before the taffy, of course.

In just one week, however, I can see the difference in her behavior.  She is happier and more energetic.  I will soon post the list of foods that our nutritionist has told us to change for her permanently.  I hope this will help others make this lifestyle change.  And of course, as always, I will be posting recipes for everything I try.

I keep getting a nagging feeling that this is one of those changes in our life that we will remember forever.  Years later, we will look back and say 'remember that year, when we changed the way we eat forever.' That thought, alone, makes me happy and yes, we are getting there.

Another grocery trip

My daughter is now getting a little bored with the food options.  She misses her berries and wants some other jams.  So, here I go again, another trip to Whole Foods to look for alternatives.  Before I began her on supplements, I did thorough research on the test results and the supplements.  Basically, the acids in her body are high.  This is due to her not being able to process them caused by her body being too busy processing cow's milk and also because she prefers things like berries which are high in acid.  A lot of these acids are also found in processed foods to preserve them.  Although, they may be naturally occuring they are not natural for those foods they are added to, to preserve them.  Yet another example of what the multinational corporations are doing to our bodies without us knowing.  I know people don't want the government to tell us what to eat but shouldn't we control what the corporations are putting in our foods without us even knowing?  Slow poison, is what I call it.

Brown rice flour cookies

Today we tried baking cookies with brown rice flour.  It was pretty simple and they came out really well.  So here's the recipe to share with everyone.

1 cup Brown Rice Flour
2 Tbs butter or vegetable oil
¼ cup honey or maple syrup
½ teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg (beaten)
1 cup nuts (ground)

Directions: Blend all ingredients thoroughly. If you'd like, chill for several hours or overnight. Roll into 1-inch balls and arrange on oiled baking sheet. Press flat with bottom of glass. Without chilling, just spoon onto baking sheet.  The balls will spread out, but the cookies will still be tasty. Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes.

Cookies came out well and my daughter enjoyed having them.  Yield was about 8 cookies.

Food Revolution in our home

It has been a while since I blogged. Life has been busy, to say the least. For the past few weeks, I have been keenly watching Jamie's Food Revolution. I was mesmerized by this one-man-army, as it seems, trying to change America. I know that he's already made a change in the UK but I had my doubts about his revolution in America. I hope, that his efforts in Huntington don't go unrewarded and we can see the ripple effects throughout America. Watching Jamie and then Food Inc., our family started to make slow changes in the way we eat but nothing drastic. We thought we were healthy enough, not overweight, generally doing ok.

At the back of my mind, however, I knew something was going on with my eldest daughter. Her teacher also pointed out that she was keeping behind her class and was always tired. She's been a fussy eater for the past 3-4 years but I assumed it was due to growing up and the family changes of having a baby sister added to the mix. I knew my time with her had decreased but I was trying my best to get her to eat healthy.

We did what all parents do and took her for a checkup. Eventually, we got the test results and believe me, the results were shocking. Her little body was not absorbing proteins and was under extreme stress from having to process cow's milk and other processed foods. As a family, we knew we had to make a change before our daughter's body started to shut down. The nutritionist advised us to stop giving her cow's milk and switch to goat's milk. Of course, processed foods were out. We read labels like crazy. Everything, and I do mean everything, had corn syrup! Even things that don't need it, like pastry dough. Now my daughter is on a strict diet for a year and then a less strict regime of healthier eating. Her diet right now involves, brown rice, fresh fruits, vegetables and goat milk. After a year, she can start having wheat again so life should get back to a little normal. The nutritionist has also given supplements to get her acid levels back to normal. Giving her the supplements is going to be a challenge. She has been really good about the food. She's read the list of things to eat and not eat, herself, so it has sunk in and she is following it to the letter. But the supplements, are another story.

I wanted to write about this major change in our life to help other parents with children on special diets. My day one for a lifetime change, has begun with an overhaul in the kitchen. I have gone through the pantry, fridge and freezer and taken out anything with corn, corn syrup or corn derivative. Next step was to get groceries for my daughter, where Whole Foods really helps with varied choices.

I will be posting everyday about things she eats and what changes I have made to the way I cook, challenges I face and what I tried to help solve the problems. I want other parents to benefit from this blog. If we pool our ideas together, we can help raise our children on a healthy lifestyle. This is our legacy. We are responsible. Pass on the message and continue the food revolution.

The Little Things in Life

I know it may seem a little old-fashioned but I enjoy my cup of coffee at home. Of course, coffee house cup is amazing but there is something good about enjoying that time relaxing with my kids and husband. These times really go by fast and before you know it, the kids are grown up and out of the house.

When I look around and watch people, I see a race. We seem to have created bizarre races for ourselves trying to outdo each other. Competing to see who's ahead in their list of friends, how many parties they're invited, who they know, where they work, what they wear, how many kids they have, how good the kids are at school and on and on it goes.

In the end, does it really matter. We are all going to the same place in the end so how is winning this race going to help us get there. To me, its the little things in life that count. Playing a board game with my daughter, seeing the toothless grin on my baby's face, my husband's smile when he's just had some chocolate, my parents voice, these are the little things that count for me.

Cloth Diapers - A Way of Life

It has now been a month since we started using cloth diapers. The Green Baby Diaper Service has proven to be worth it. I am now using the diapers at night and am finding they are better than disposable. The best part about using the cloth diapers is I don't have to keep emptying the diaper pail. The diaper service comes and takes all the diapers once a week and I get a set of fresh diapers and covers. The diapers are quite absorbent and leak much less than their disposable counterparts. The baby also feels the wetness so she lets me know when she needs changing. This is, of course, a great step in future potty-training. The cloth diapers are also easy to take along when we go out. I just keep a bag to put the dirty ones in and when I return home, they go into the large bag provided by the service to keep all the dirty diapers. I highly recommend Green Baby Diaper Service and if anyone wants to see for themselves how the diapers work, go to YouTube and just type snappi or cloth diapers and something will come up.

Happy diaper changing!