• Last updated Yesterday by Melanie Mayo

          Sharing the Love, Sharing the Food   When I was pregnant with AnaBella, my first child, I had just begun attending a church of a few hundred people. There were many young families that cared for and supported each other in the months following the birth of their children. One of my new friends, a young mom with a daughter under a year, asked how many meals a week I’d like, and for how many weeks, after AnaBella's birth. I had no idea what my recovery would be like, but was hesitant to ask anything of moms who already had their hands full. So my... read more

• Last updated 4/8/13 by AdinaL

…and it was a spam thinger about texas hold-em. Le sigh. You know, pretty soon I am going to be mailing out swag to my favorite, most assiduous commenters. Because I am not above dangling the old carrot when it’s called for ; )  The kids are at work with me today, and behaving themselves, too. Honorée is walking around on stilts and Nathaniel is “vacuuming” with a random vacuum attachment that’s attached to nothing except his dear little imagination engine. I took us all to lunch at Backroads Pizza, a really yummy locally owned pizza joint in our Second... read more

• Last updated 4/8/13 by AdinaL

Last night I made meatloaf in a bowl. I was supposed to go to the store and get some kind of super-comfort-foody assortment–my seasonal yen meter was wanting roasted chicken, squash, potatoes and chard–but just when I was about to make the last mile there, my daughter’s bladder became fit to burst and I also noticed that I suddenly had this painful stomach bloat problem, and in my non-stretchy jeans to boot. We peeled off and went home. I was going to change my pants and eat something. She was going to pee. We were going to get back in the car…but no…home felt... read more

• Last updated 4/8/13 by AdinaL

I was a big girl yesterday; I went ahead and baked cupcakes for my daughter’s birthday party. No big deal, right? Well, I have been frozen in trauma ever since I tried to bake up here at 7,000+ feet and noticed that the stuff I turned out was flat and dense, in a bad way. So then, I baked a few more times, in denial that I was up here in the high desert (and feeling attached to baking at sea level, which is what I lavishly did up to age 29)…and stuff was flat and dense. And then…I actually looked up the adjustments for how to bake up here, and implemented them,... read more

• Last updated 4/8/13 by AdinaL

where x = (I was overcome and found myself on a) then y = seventy-some bucks deducted from my checking account, and z=satisfaction that comes from eating the foods that make my kapha-pitta body sing. I have been so bad over the last few months. I am old enough to know that if I eat certain foods, my body purrs like a performance machine. If I eat certain other ones, I am a bloated, backfiring jalopy. Wheat is not my friend. My body loves iron, but if I have more than a little beef, I get all backed up. Cheese? Definitely not the kind that melts in... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

There are so many design- or production-related things things to blog about, but for right now, this is about all I can handle. (i.e., I’m under deadline and am supposed to be doing layout at this very moment—so I’ll make this quick!)I don’t (like to or choose to) cook. But I make an exception when it comes to . . .Laura’s Not-So-Secret Recipe forProtein-Packed Production Fuel, er, Oatmeal1/3 c rolled oats2/3 c water1T chopped walnuts1T raisinsdash cinnamondash salt1/3 c chopped apple1/3 c cottage cheese1. Throw everything except apple and cottage cheese into a... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

Best bits from our September–October issue, part 1. Homemade ice cream While considering how to illustrate an article on how easy it is to make your own ice cream, we felt it would be just plain wrong to hire somebody else to make the ice cream—the how-tos and recipes in the article seemed so simple. And, in an effort to tighten belts around here (figuratively, of course, especially in this case), we decided to shoot it ourselves, too. So staff photographer Melyssa Holik, features editor Candace Walsh, and I each whipped up batches of ice cream... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

a.k.a., yes, blatant product endorsement. Apologies for the seemingly commercial nature of this. . . but I really do love this tea. Because it’s not always easy to find, I have tried to switch, to find some other hot beverage I like as much, but, alas, no luck so far. Bought it originally, long ago,  for (why not!) the package design—and the hint of whimsy there. And now the tea is a routine part of my day, try as hard as I might to move on to something else. I ran out of “my” tea a couple of days ago and went to get more, but my usual supplier... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

I just got this awesome recipe from Tami at Peas of Mind, a company that makes healthy frozen vegetable fries, among other things. When I was growing up, it was a big joke that ketchup was considered a vegetable by the Reagan administration. However, this ketchup recipe is indeed made up of vegetables, along with seasonings. My kids go through a ton of it, which makes me feel better about forgetting to stick something green on their plates now and then. Rustic Homemade Ketchup ½ a large onion, red or white, diced, about 1 cup 1 teaspoons... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

. . . of the Mothering production team. Mel (Staff Photographer Melyssa Holik) and I spent a good chunk of yesterday on the back porch of Candace’s (Feature Editor/Product Review Editor Candace Walsh) very gracious former partner, shooting raw food recipes for our May–June issue. The food was “cooked” by Mel and Mothering’s new fulfillment manager, Sarah Patamia (who has jumped into her role here with both feet—and primo culinary skills), then styled by Mel on site—with occasional awkward and inopportune suggestions by me. By far the tastiest raw... read more