PG/TTC TF Mamas Chat - Page 4

[Dove84]

Katealicia, we were all first time mom's at some point  I think it's fantastic that you are giving your first baby such a great start, sometimes I still feel guilty over things I ate or did with DD, even though I honestly didn't know better.

1love4ever- yeah, I just meant if I go over my 'due date' personally I'd just let baby come whenever they are ready, but the professionals aren't so keen on that.  DD was a week over, so I'm hoping to be prepared if I go past 42 wks.... though they'll have to drag me kicking and screaming to an induction!  LOL

Wow, you are both so efficient at meal planning!  I'm horrible, I hate it.  It takes me ages and I can never think of what to make etc... doesn't help that DH is a bit particular, he complains if I make too many casseroles or stews, or too much chicken, he basically wants to eat steak everday.  and he doesn't 'do' leftover.  Ok, so he is not that bad, but still.  So when I MP I take out my recipe books, look at fav websites, allrecipes.com etc. and list each day and what I'm going to make.  I'll think ahead to if we have an appointment or something where I'd want a meal in the slowcooker, and I try and make quick things on the weekend as we are often out and about and if I don't have something good planned DH will eat out.  If I'm doing a chicken soup then I'll have at least 4 days of chicken meals to plan.  If I do a roast beef then I'll find some recipes to use the leftovers etc.  I'll look at flyers and take stock of what dry goods we have.  Meat, eggs, milk are picked up or in the freezer.  I try and balance, say 3 chicken, 3 beef, one fish/week etc.  And steak to make DH happy

So I'm curious for those who are grain free, how do you do it?  Like aren't you hungry all the time?  what do you eat, is your bill astronomical?  I'm just wondering b/c DH and I both eat quite a bit (and are healthy weights) and I can't imagine having, say, three teenage boys who eat like us or my uncle or brother (both thin too!) and not having any grains!  Our bill would just be so high.  We  are willing to spend extra for good food (which is expensive here) but there has to be a limit somewhere.  anyway. sorry for the weird questions, I just don't know anyone IRL who does so. 

[Millie Ivy]

I rarely eat grains.  On occasion I'll enjoy some corn chips, or a little rice, or corn tortillas, but that's not that often. 

My kids eat grains away from home, and eat the aforementioned grains I eat on occasion.  Everyone in my family but me eats corn tortillas pretty often. 

So, that said, no I'm not starving all the time!  lol.  I eat a TON of produce.  When I got off grains, I found I could go longer between meals (well, not pregnant...), without the blood sugar drop I use to get.  I'm not really low carb either, though it's lower than normal intake to be sure.  I eat potatoes a lot.  most days probably I get a little potato or fruit or both.

I eat a lot of fat and protein too.

We definitely spend more that if I was eating mostly rice and beans, to be sure, but I'd guess that it's vastly less than a family of almost 6 that eats a more SAD diet with packaged stuff and eating out more.  I spend about 150 every other week (thats with about 25 off my produce, since it's my coop and I do the work with my mom and sister, we take a discount) wit my coop and that gets meat, eggs, milk, produce.  when I need it I get honey, sea salt, coconut oil, almond flour, and a few other things.  I try to adjust my order to make that all fit in the 150, but sometimes it goes over.

My husband gets bananas (for smoothies), corn tortillas and conventional shredded cheese at the store, plus a little more conventional meat for his lunches.  I get, at the store, the stuff I mentioned in my last post. 

We buy alcohol, coffee, and tea.  I'd say if I added every single thing food wise up over the month it would definitely be under 700 on the biggest months.  If I was more careful than I've been this year I'm sure I could keep it under 600 even with any convenience stuff.   In this area, for a family our size, I'd say that's on the lower end!

[1love4ever]

KateAlecia, just curious why you said NOT ezekiel sprouted tortillas?  I've been using those, hope they are not bad :/  Must admit, I am not a fan of the soy in them even if its sprouted.  I get the corn tortillas sometimes instead.

And wow, you guys have amazing meal planning skills, I am SO not that talented or patient or organized!  I wish I would have gotten in to that before I had kids, it would probably be much easier.

So, I had some beans sprouting on my counter.  Most of them have sprouts, but fruit flies have started to get in them, even when I cover them (they are in a strainer so they get in through the holes), and now I notice they are starting to smell a little bad!  I am going to let them set tonight and smell them tomorrow, but I am guessing that they will be going to the chickens :(  Not sure why they got bad, the fruit flies?  Its not like they were loaded with them, there are like 3 little flies that are getting in them.  But, maybe for the summer I will stick to soaking, them resume sprouting when it gets cooler?  So  frustrated, I had a whole bag of black beans that I was planning on making this awesome quinoa and black bean dish with, and freezing half of the sprouted beans for later.    That is about as complicated as my meal planning gets :)

[1love4ever]

Question about lamb!  I will have the opportunity to butcher my own lamb (actually DH will be doing it :D), and was wondering if anyone has ever made lamb bone broth?  Also, can you replace beef with lamb in recipes, like stew- use lamb instead of beef?  Other thoughts on the lamb, how I should have him process it, etc?  We are very inexperienced at this, so anything helps :)

[craft_media_hero]

How I meal plan lately (it has changed and will continue to do so, I'm sure):

I start with what we have in the freezer and pantry, doing dinners first. First thing I plan is a crock pot meal--roast chicken, pork shoulder, or beef roast, with veggies. Then I have something easy to cook and one dinner down. That r ecycles into "taco" type salad the next day for lunch and soup the next night for dinner. If chicken, then bones go back in the crockpot for bone broth. 2 dinners down.

Then, ifthe crockpot meal was say chicken, I plan the next dinner to be a different usually steak-y meat, like this week pork chops. I start w the meat and fill in sides--one cooked veg dish and one raw veg side (salad of some kind like cole slaw or garden salad). Usually that dinner will have enough to give lunch leftovers the next day. If I thaw ham steaks, then I thaw enough for two meals, so we have ham steaks one night and kebabs for later in the week. So that gives abt 4 dinners so far. Then I've done chicken, pork, so next I do beef (we buy those three meats in bulk and stash in mini freezer). If I use ground beef, I cook enough for two nights, like meatballs in sauce one night and seasoned ground crumble for taco salad or calabazitas-type "kitchen sink" veggie goulash or curry. Then whatever day is left blank, I fill in with breakfast for dinner coz its easy and I'm out o f ideas by then.

I tend to err on the side of grain-free but have been adding it just in case, to round out things, so I add in a soaked grain side or two that can go w multiple dinners--like quinoa/veg pilaf or just soaked cooked black rice. I always cook grains and beans in a giant atch and freeze extra because they are pesky and I dont wanna do it more than once a week. I do the same w legumes or I will add legumes in abt a 1:4 ratio and cook right in with the grains-- add lentils in w quinoa or split peas in w rice, etc.

I go back and fill in lunches, either with leftovers or alternate soup (usually egg drop in bone broth or veggie/leftover meat or salads using nuts or boiled eggs). Another fill in luch is egg-fried rice or other grain.

Then I look at brek. For animal-protein heavy days, I automatically add in soaked oatmeal, supplementing that w kefir fruit smoothie. Any day that doesnt have eggs yet gets egg breakfast. Any day that already has eggs and meat gets bone broth for brek plus fruit.

Then I fill in snack--if no eggs on that day yet, its boiled egg and carrot sticks or whatev, if no bone broth yet on that day then its bone broth, etc. If those are covered at brek or lunch, then its probly nut and fruit.

Then I look at each meal and try to add a probiotic to go along, like kefir smoothie, kefir ranch, kombucha, raw cultured cheese, LF mayo/salsa/guac, etc.

THEN (and this is it, I swear), I fill in bottom row: food prep, where I write down any instructions for what needs to happen the night before--soaking, setting kefir, thawing meat, etc.

So I plan for one meat meal, grain/legume once a day, abt two eggs a day, and try to fit bone broth in somewhere (like in gravy or soup base), and try to fit in something probiotic at each meal if possible. It probably sounds way more complicated than it is! I do plan 3 meals plus a snack just so I have ideas but I am not rigid about sticking to it if something else sounds better. And the "food prep" line is essential! Without that, the rest doesnt happen.

I spend abt 100-150 every ~1.5 weeks using this method, but we have the garden going and our freezer stocked. Feeding 4+ growing little bean. It takes a while and I dont lke doing it, but I like eating! And ths way I keep our costs down and try to fit in the foods that are important to me right now.

Oh, btw, I had some sprouting chickpeas turn RANK on me in this heat, so I'm going back to just soaking for the summer, too.

[Millie Ivy]

I can't leave anything on the counter right now,  1love4ever.  I usually have bowls of produce everywhere (co-op!  lots of food at one time!), and right now I can't leave ANYTHING out or the fruit flies go nuts.  Even with stuff that doesn't have sugar.  I think I finally eradicated them and am risking a bowl of potatoes til I use some of our other produce and I have room in the fridge again, but No way will anything else go out.

Now if I could only manage getting my kitchen really very clean every night before I totally run out of energy... My kitchens only been 100% clean a couple times since I got pregnant this time. 
 

[Millie Ivy]

CraftMediaHero- your planning is more what I do when I'm a little more on it.  I spend a little less and I plan a little more.  It's what I'll be doing this Fall when the kids go to school. 

Last year we succumbed to a lot more snacky things bought, added to lunches and snacks.  Not horribly bad for them, but not the best either.  Fruit leather, lara bars, millions of quesadillas.  It was a combo of a rough time for my health last fall, then the holidays, then getting pregnant this spring.

I'm planning on doing much more homemade stuff for lunches this year.  We are going to spend some time next month when the kids are all home (older two at their fathers for a month) trying out new recipes for breakfast and lunches and snacks.  I'm going to reiterate the importance of varied homemade food, and we are going to all get back on better home maintenance schedules. Sounds like a lot, but it's just been crazy this year and I need to get everyone on board better.  Last year, everyone was on totally different schedules.  DD, 5th grade, public.  DS1, 3rd grade started homeschooling, ended up at charter, DS2 Prek, 3 days a week, home 2.  I was crazy pants dealing with all my heath stuff and driving everyone different places different days. 

this fall the boys will be at our local public elementary (1/2 mile away), and dd will be at middle school (2 miles away). 

Ok, that was a rant that needed out, apparently.  whew. 

what was my point? I don't know. blah. 

Oh, right, one more thing I was going to say was I will be soaking more grains this fall, too.  I can't do rice hardly ever, it really makes me react.  But the kids can and I'd rather them regularly get organic soaked, sprouted grains and legumes than falling into getting the worse stuff on occasion because it wasn't part of my plan.  I don't bake it into things (since I really can't have it!), but I'll make rice for a side, or an add to tacos, or add soaked beans to soups, etc.  They like rice balls too, and that might be a good addd to lunches.  They have also requested that I make oatmeal for breakfasts, and that's a great one (they were off oats just bc of taste forever, and I wished they'd eat a little!)

[katealicia]

   1love4ever, the only reason I said alvarado st baking company and not ezekial is that the ezekial tastes nasty. As far as I know there is nothing bad about it, it just has a horrible texture which makes it unpleasant in the mouth and impossible to work with. The alvarado st ones are very yummy and easy to work with. We use the corn ones sometimes too. I don't even have to buy those sprouted because the whole foods brand ones are prepared traditionally with lime (soaked). I really like that if you use the corn tortilla and use beans and meat in the quesadilla you're getting a mega-dose of healthy protein, because the 3 work together synergystically.

   Other than the tortillas for quesadillas, we are pretty low-grain. I think that it just flows naturally with traditional foods in a way. I mean, for me it's a real hassle to prepare grains that are soaked, sprouted or sour leavened, and it can be expensive to buy those things prepared or they taste bad. So naturally I only eat grains when there's something I really want or an easy way to prepare them. The exception (aside from the tortillas) is the store-bought sourdough bread that DH eats way more of than I do. We do eat a lot of potatoes and beans, and personally I like those better than grains.

[craft_media_hero]

I agree about grains being a PITA and not always worth the effort! And way pricy if you buy the premade sprouted stuff, though I wish we had yummy sprouted tortillas at our hfs. We have the ezekiel ones, and I just dont care for their texture. I made soaked tortillas a week back to go w pork carnitas that were soooo yummy, but big meals like that I dont prepare often--only if the whole fam is available to help, one makes salsa and guac, one rolls tortillas, one shreds to meat,etc. I used to go all out more often before ds was born but no mas! I find every meal prep gets interrupted so many times that I reallly need simple and easy one entree, one side, easy garden salad.

Millie, my dd will be going to public school for the first time after 3 yrs hs-ing since K! I am a little nervous, but my major quest is to simplify my life as much as possible, and this is the shortest distance between two points for us right now She seems pretty positive about it. I thought abt getting her into the 4 day/wk charter, but I'd b driving across town twice a day with a tot and newborn....that's not simplifying! As it is, she will be riding her bike down the street a few blocks and is excited about that and about packing her lunch. Also, her neighborhood friends go there and she likes the idea that she'll already have friends there. So its a good decision for us right now.

Packing lunch is a major job, too, though! The foods we eat a thome for lunch dont always translate so well into school packed lunch. So I need a crash course on kid-friendly tf packed lunches! Dd is a pretty adventurous eater but also very sensitive to being labeled "weird" so it needs to blend in and look boring to other kids, lol.

Totally been craving junk fod lately but we've been doing really great. On the meal plan, so...I'm not going to beat myself up about the kashi cookies dh and I had tonight! At least I dunked them in raw milk!

Good night, all! Have a blessed and wonderful day tomorrow!

[Millie Ivy]

Originally Posted by craft_media_hero 

Millie, my dd will be going to public school for the first time after 3 yrs hs-ing since K! I am a little nervous, but my major quest is to simplify my life as much as possible, and this is the shortest distance between two points for us right now She seems pretty positive about it. I thought abt getting her into the 4 day/wk charter, but I'd b driving across town twice a day with a tot and newborn....that's not simplifying! As it is, she will be riding her bike down the street a few blocks and is excited about that and about packing her lunch. Also, her neighborhood friends go there and she likes the idea that she'll already have friends there. So its a good decision for us right now.
Packing lunch is a major job, too, though! The foods we eat a thome for lunch dont always translate so well into school packed lunch. So I need a crash course on kid-friendly tf packed lunches! Dd is a pretty adventurous eater but also very sensitive to being labeled "weird" so it needs to blend in and look boring to other kids, lol.
 

OK, so lets work together to plan and prep for this lunch business!  I did better the first year my older two were in public (we used to homeschool too) but last year got into some major ruts.

I just perused ComfyBelly.com and got some great breakfast  and snack ideas, and we are definitely doing some dry run practice next month.  My problem is the same as yours, a lot of the more primal/tf lunches at home don't translate well into packed lunches.  Add in any particular dislikes each kid has and lunch packing is a full time job.  But it's really something I need to buckle down and do.  I'm going to get way better about planning, for one.

Some things that at least one or more kids like are:

soup (egg drop, baked potato and sometimes my meat/veggie soups.  they don't always love my soup enough to bring it to lunch. sillies.)

rice balls (this will be a concession to grain because my dd at least loves them, and will put up with a lot of other things to have one)

hot dogs

salad(my middle kid mostly)

tacos

taco salad

sometimes meat loaf

sometimes meatballs (I'll be working on these both,tweaking recipes to be more lunch friendly)

bento style stuff

baked potato loaded(daughter)

But mostly, they get picky and want to default to corn tortillas, shredded cheese, pepperoni-quesadillas. sigh. I'm going to really work on this.

We have had a transition to PS over the past couple years. I still love homeschooling, and if the kids really want to again, I will.  It's a shit ton of work though, to have some in PS and some at home. Way more than just homeschooling.

My older two started PS not last year but the year before, their father was pressuring them pretty bad, and I said to do whatever you want, so they went (2nd and 4th)

DS (2nd) hated it with a deep dark passion, DD loved it and really thrived.  She went forward in the same PS onto 5th.

The last year, DS(3rd) and DS(PreK) started homeschooling, and with a few different things (my health struggles, the after effects of a year of stress from various sources, my older DS really fighting me on everything, younger DS just wearing me out, etc on top off my work and school) We decided at xmas time to send DS1 to a charter after holiday break.  DS2 started a prek.  They both thrived in their situations. (DS2 is 5  and really wanted to try public K, and that was another reason I decided on prek. I didn't really want him to go from homeschooling straight to full time K with no in between.  Like I said, I will totally homeschool him if he wants but I don't want to set him up for failure just because it's sooo new)

DS2 is now going into 4th and wants to go back to the PS down the road.  I hesitated to let him, as he has a grass is always greener on the other side mentality, and I don't really want him constantly going back and forth, but there are more club opportunities at this school, there will be a different teacher (the 2nd grade teacher was a large part of why he hated 2nd grade.  She's terrible) and it's SO CLOSE!!!  So that's what we are doing and it's, like you said, definitely simplifying, thank the gods

Damn, I ramble so bad here.

[Millie Ivy]

Oh, and for lunchboxes- anything on a stick. chicken on a stick, fruit on a stick, etc.  plus dips

I might start a new thread for tf/primal lunchbox

[craft_media_hero]

See, my dd was fighting me on everything and super resistant and argumentative--didnt want to do any work, it was such a struggle to just cover math and writing/spelling; it just was super frustrating for me! Prior to that, she had been willing and hs was fun, but I think just with her stage of development, she really needs to push away from me and be independent for a while. The amount of hs was about what she'll be doing for homework next year!

If sh wants to come back and hs down the road, I will let her, but we def both need a year off, and I think it will give her some perspective and help her appreciate how cool hsing really is. The following year, we're getting a public waldorf charter, tho, and she is on the enrollment list for that, and I think it will be a really good fit for her. So this might be the end of hs for us at least until middle/high school! I feel kind of torn about it and like we really failed last year, but hey, you can lead a horse to water . . . she just was so stubborn and we had conflicts every day, and I am not willing to stress myself out like that again!

LOVE the idea of a primal/tf lunchbox thread! Or blog even! That would be so much fun to participate in I am really clueless even about what gear we need, etc. I will have to do some blog study (the vegan lunch box blog is pretty cool, actually!) and figure out what kind of thermos, bag, utensils, etc. I think it will be best for me if I just can nail a dozen or so things she likes that pack well and keep rotating through those.

In other events, I am on day 3 of an apricot saga! Down to about 30# after starting with close to 70# I havent actually canned any of them, just been drying and today will start freezing, too. I'm running out of motivation and steam, though! I am irritated because I thought I would have access to three dehydrators, then mine died (after eight years of heavy use!), and my sis is being weird about letting me borrow hers (c'mon! 70#s here! Cut me a break and bring over your dryer!), so I've just got this one ancient Harvest Maid going, and it's a trooper, but you can only dry so much so fast, you know? Also have the racks from the one that died and my bamboo steamer loaded in the car-- but after weeks of triple digit temps, as soon as I want to sun dry, the heat drops off!

So wish me speedy food processing skills! I am getting a little tired out of it! And dont want to drive across town for pectin which is whats holding me back from jamming. It is taking forever because ds makes me stop every ten minutes for nur-nur (nurse <3 ) or he wants a snack r has spilled something or needs a diaper or is just bored and wants me to sit and play. Dd s at her gramps' and she usually plays with him a lot during the day, so that's affecting my processing time,, too.

Hope you all are having a wonderful day!

[katealicia]

   I love the lunchbox I got when I was working, and my little sister has the same one that she takes to school. I got mine at whole foods and she got hers at the local hfs where she lives. They are called lunchopolis and they are pretty expensive, but totally cute and work really well. Sometimes you can get them on sale when it's back-to-school. It is a regular lunchbox but it doesn't have any lead in the lining and it has a large container, sandwich sized container, two small snack containers and a drink bottle that all fit in it while still being a convenient size. The containers are all bpa free. It is designed to be a zero waste lunchbox so there is also a pocket on the inside where I would put silverware from home and napkins that I made to match. The one I have is blue and grey/silver and the one my sister has is brown and aqua. There are also ones with patterns, and the containers on the inside match the colors on the outside. If you go to JoAnn and get the fabric squares they have in the quilting section, those are the perfect size (18x22) for a napkin you just hem them and wash them and you're good to go (or you can just buy half a yard of quilting fabric). You can make 5 of them and just wash them on the wekkends. When I was working it was so cheery to open my lunch box and see my cute little napkins every day :)

[Millie Ivy]

Craft media Hero- where do you live?  We also have had 100+ temps and it just slacked off.  In teas by any chance?
 

[Millie Ivy]

katealicia- I don't have any lunchopolis, now I have to look for those!  I love lunchboxes.  It's a fetish.

I am low on cloth napkins, too, I need to get some more made before school starts.  Thanks for reminding me!

AFM- I ate popcorn yesterday at the movies (got there and was STARVING all of a sudden.  decided popcorn and a hotdog sans bun would be a great idea. pfft. )  I was in such pain a couple hours later, it was awful. I couldn't hardly eat dinner at my sisters house later, it was so sad!

No more popcorn for me, no sirree.  I also can't splurge on pizza (we make chebe crust.  My mom makes it for us a couple times a month whenever she watches the kids for me.  It's wonderful and delicious) It's been giving me bad gas pain/stomach upset each time I've had it pregnant.  Grr.

On the upside, I made homemade, raw yogurt last week and we've been straining it.  Bodhi calls it greek yogurt, and we've been eating that with fruit every morning.  I'm definitely going to start making yogurt regularly again.  It's so delicious and gets lots of yummy nutrients into kids AND me.

[craft_media_hero]

Millie, we're in a desert valley in western colorado, near the Utah border. I feel so lucky to live here--it's one of the most beautiful places on earth, and we're surrounded by mountains, rivers, and forested mesas with thousands of tiny lakes hidden in them. BUT the summers are KILLER! It's like I forget every year, lol. At least my tomato plants are loving it, as long as I keep them watered

Katealicia, I haven't heard of lunchopolis--I will definitely check that out. We saw a tv add for a insulated sack called packit, I think, and dd really seemed keen on that. Its supposedly stays cool for a really long time. Yep, here it is: [=https://www.packit.com/?mid=1506346][/]

Some more lunchbox ideas for all: bacon to dip in guacamole (a fav breakfast around here!) boiled eggs with nutritional yeast/sea salt dip, turkey rollups (lunch meat wrapped in a little burrito around guac or soft cheese), flax crackers and almond butter, smoked salmon in leftover soaked rice, beef jerky, soaked crispy garbanzo beans (I've never made these, tho!), trail mix, homemade lara bars (never made these either!), pemmican balls/cubes (frozen in the am), carrot sticks and kefir ranch or yogurt cheese.

Dd has some sensory issues and has always been a really slooooow eater. Combine that with being very social and the motivation to get recess as soon as you leave the lunch room, and our experience has always been that she is too overstimulated by the noise and crowds of the cafeteria to eat much in the time alloted, flees to go outside and play, and then progressively melts down and loses her cool as the rest of the afternoon wears on. I am concerned about it! Plus, she is very slow moving in the mornings and doesnt tend to eat a big breakfast but gets hungry around 10. But she gets very cranky if she skips a meal. All of this contributed to K being a disaster, but she is older now so hopefully we can just talk though these issues and emphasize the importance of giving our bodies good fuel.

So, Millie, tell how you are making the yogurt! I have never had success w homemade raw yogurt.

I'm almost done with the apricots, yeah! I am on the last box and can see the light at the end of he tunnel! And I managed to get away with no canning! Whoot!

[Millie Ivy]

I followed the instructions in NT, but I got it maybe 5 degrees warmer.  And the raw yogurt always is pretty thin so I definitely strain it!

[Dove84]

I too have been struggling with what to do for lunches- I am always home and we will be HS'ing so for us it's not an issue, but it is for DH.  He seems happy to eat sourdough bread with raw cheese, pastured butter and lunch meat, but I don't like the lunch meat part.  The regular meat is full of preservatives etc and the 'natural' stuff is sooooo expensive- $10 for 250 grams.  And it's not even organic!  So any more ideas would be great!  I've tried the soup in a thermos etc. but he says it takes too long to eat and he needs more than that as he is pretty active all day. 

The past week has been crazy... in the hospital with DD and then atbdoctors and then at an all day convention, so my plans to go less grains and more protein haven't been very successful... I have been bringing along food from home where possible but it's not the same.  On Saturday I was feeling sick and weak from hunger and the heat so we picked up a rotisserie chicken.  About 2 hours after eating it, I vomited and then was sick every 30 min for the rest of the night.  Fun fun.  Anyway, going to get back on track now.  the plus side is today I finally don't feel nauseous (if I eat regularly) or feel like I've been hit by a truck!!  It was exactly the same with DD, I began to feel better at 15.5 weeks, like my first tri ends then.  Very odd. 

Speaking of meal plans, DH wants me to do the plan for the next 2 weeks ugh.  Any suggestions on how to cook a grass fed beef roast?  I have three, can't remember what cuts and too lazy to go check

You are all so lucky to have such a great selection of tortillas and alternative grains, there is really nothing here.  I best I could find is raw tortillas from Costco, they are white flour but at least don't have all the preservatives etc. the usual ones do.  We only have them about 1x a month as a treat.  I'm going to try to cut back on our grains more, we do buy the sprouted brown rice from costco but it is pricey and DH hates it (he only wants basmati rice and says it is the healthiest )

Has anyone pumped for an older baby during pregnancy?  I can't really get any info on whether it is safe, even my LC doesn't know.  I've just started using an SNS (with raw cow milk) with DD and she actually liked it, so I'd like to pump for her and hopefully keep my supply up until we can get her tongue and lip ties fixed.

I just started making raw yogurt and haven't had much success, it turns out really weird and lumpy.  I haven't eaten it, just in smoothies, DD seems to like it however.

What are Lara bars? 

[craft_media_hero]

Dove84

My favorite way to cook a beef roast is in the crockpot, a little tomato sauce on bottom, then the roast, then top with thin sliced onions and chopped carrots and potatoes. I always season the meat before, too. Abt 5 hrs or til meat thermometer says 160. Then you can shred the leftovers with a fork and use it for your dh's samwiches!

I am so glad the sns is working for you two! That is great news! As far as pumping, I think the gretest concern is toward the very end of pregnancy. I have known a couple friends whose babies went on strike in the first tri, so they ep'd for a little while. I would try it for 10 minutes or so and then observe how your body reacts the rest of the day and go from there?


I am really low energy and low appetite today. Dd was gone, and I was so busy with apricot processing so that I've really fallen off the menu plan this week! And I reeeaaaally want someone else to cook a few meals . . . I've been eating boiled eggs and organic popcorn today and raw milk and fruit leather. I guess that's not too bad!

[katealicia]

Dove84- Pot roast is possibly my favorite thing to cook. I don't have a crockpot, but my biggest pot is oven safe so I use that. First melt half a stick of butter in the pot. Then add the roast (rubbed with salt and pepper) and brown all the edges. You don't want to have it in there long, just until one side turns brown-then turn it over to the other side, etc. Then set the roast aside for a minute. Add the second half of the butter and throw some onions and celery in there. After a few minutes add garlic, and then cook until onions are translucent. Add the roast back in, and then add some more salt and pepper, thyme, and a bay leaf. Pour in 1 cup of your favorite beer (this is really good with Sam Adams Octoberfest in the fall) and 1 cup stock. If you feel this isn't enough liquid you can add more stock. Then just stick it in the oven at 325 for 4 hours. About every hour you want to baste it and at two hours you might want to flip the roast over. After the four hours add chopped potatoes and chopped carrots (if it's fall you can also add chopped apples!). Cook for about one more hour and then it's ready. This recipe usally works well for about a 2-3 lb roast, but I'm sure it would work for a larger one if you just increase the amounts and cook maybe a little longer. Browning on the outside first adds so much flavor, and we really like to have the crusty bark alongside the super tender inside pieces. Seriously my favorite dish :D