How babies are born - by Odeliya

Yesterday my 4 yr old daughter came home from preschool and spent most of the afternoon playing in the yard with her brothers and the dog. This happy quiet playing allowed me to unpack a few more boxes in my bedroom. (It also resulted in my cellphone being dumped into a bucket of water... :-) )

While I folded and sorted clothing for babies of all genders and ages, Odeliya came wandering in to my room with a baby doll in her arms.
"Mommy, when you go to have a baby do you go to the doctor and he cuts you open and takes out your baby and then puts your stomach back?"
Did I hear that right? I mean, WHAT?! deep breath.
"What was that, Odeliya?"  I asked. She repeated her initial statement almost to the word. Now, it is very important to note that Odeliya is not a verbally expressive child. She is emotional and physical, but not generally verbal. So this was extremely articulate for you.
Clearly I couldn't exclaim "No! that is NOT how babies are born!" because the truth is that some babies do need to be born that way.
Two things were going through my mind at this point:
1) Where did she hear this?
and 2) When did cesarean birth become the prevailing notion for how babies get born?
"Odeliya, where did you hear that?"
"Tal told Daria in gan that that's how babies are born." Oh great, Daria's mother is due any minute, I'm sure she's going to love hearing this even more than I did!
"I see. Well, Odeliya, that is not the way that babies are born. Sometime, if there is an emergency - if something is really wrong - a baby might need to be taken out that way. But that is not the way all babies are born."
In the span of 10 seconds several versions of how to explain birth to a 4 year old - this 4 year old - flashed through my mind and none of them felt right. If I were talking to Netanel, I could have told him. Odeliya doesn't pay too much attention to words. So after a brief mental debate where I weighed to benefits vs. risks of going to video, I asked her if she would like to see how babies are born. I wished at that moment that I had a video of her birth to show her... but we went to youtube instead.

Odeliya was fascinated, completely enthralled. She watched with quiet focus as several mommies birthed their babies.
I watched her reactions, and quietly commented that the blood she was seeing is what cushions the baby inside the mommy and not scary blood like when she gets a booboo. I think I made another explanation too, but I can't remember about what. Afterwards I asked her what she thought and this was her response:
"Oh."
And off she went to carry on torturing the dog!

Thanks, Dels, I'm glad we had this little talk.

Fresh bread and butter... heaven!

The most delicious thing in the world, in my opinion, is a generous glob of butter spread on fresh-out-of-the-oven bread. Sprinkle on some sea salt, and life just got even better!

So due to popular demand ;-) here is my favorite
Quick and Easy Bread Recipe (that you can even make by hand!)

Ingredients:
4-6 cups flour (any type, I use 100% Whole Wheat and it comes out awesome!)
2 Tbs yeast
2 Tbs brown sugar or honey
1 Tbs kosher salt
3 cups warm water
(for crusty bread: a cake pan of hot water)

Directions:
proof yeast  w/ water and sugar
In a large bowl combine 3 cups flour with the salt
Add the bubbly yeast mixture a little at a time while stirring (I like to use the "Well" method, if you're not familiar, leave a comment!)
cover and let stand for about 20 minutes
Add enough flour to make a soft but sturdy dough
Form into 2 round loaves, or 10-12 rolls, whatever suits your needs
cover and let rise 30 minutes
run a knife over the top of each loaf to allow air to escape during baking (make a very shallow cut)

Put the bread in a cold oven and turn on to 400F/205C
place a cake pan of hot water on the bottom rack of the oven for crusty bread!
Bake for 40 min for loaves, 1/2 hour for rolls

As soon as it's cool enough to handle, cut yourself a slice and spread some butter on it, your tastebuds will love you forever!!

Enjoy!

Lucky/Unlucky Me

There are always leftovers of the lunches from my son's preschool. Most of the time someone knows someone who could really use free food. But occasionally it's offered up to the first parent to arrive at pick up with a car.

Today I was the lucky one. Since there's no school tomorrow I decided, "what they hey? It'll make my life a little easier tomorrow." So I left with a large plastic bag of gov't issue preschool lunch. Then I got home and looked at what it was.

Unlike my experience in my son's NJ school, we do not receive a menu, and although I ask Netanel what he eats for lunch, I don't always get a straight answer. So this was my first exposure to the actual food that he is being served on a daily basis. I was devastated.

In one plastic container, I found greasy pasta which seemed to be seasoned with soup mix. The second container had canned green beans in a watery red sauce. I can only assume there was a protein main dish that had been finished. Based on what I was looking at for sides, I can only imagine that the main dish was something just as pitiful. Fried, breaded chicken breast? Maybe.

I feel defeated! In my house we eat only whole wheat flour, we stay away from refined sugars, we eat mostly vegetables and fruit, grains and legumes. We have limited dairy intake too. Netanel's behavior is so easily affected by his food, so I try to be very vigilant over what he eats. Why should he be reprimanded for behavior problems caused by the food I give him? If I allow him the occasional treat, we discuss it before hand. I ask him, "Who's in control, Netanel? You or the sugar?" And he tells me that he is, and I tell him that if he is unable to control himself, I will restrain him, and then he can choose to eat the treat or not. Now I feel as if all my hard work is a complete waste of time!

I want to take on the system, get in touch with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Health, and start a campaign to bring healthy food to our children. I know it's been done in other places, and I think it's even being done here in some areas of the country. At the same time, I'm so reluctant to take something else onto my heavily burdened shoulders.

This is Netanel's last year in Gan, but next year Odeliya will be starting, with Yitzchak not far behind. Something needs to be done about this, and soon. I am so open to ideas of how to go about this, or maybe even find other people who are already working on getting healthy, fresh food to our kids' schools who's bandwagon I can conveniently jump on.

Till then, I'm going to sleep.

15 Minute Oat Muffins

By popular demand, here is my favorite muffin recipe - these muffins are so easy and bake so fast, and you can add anything you want to them (including things your kids won't eat!) The original version of this recipe came from my mother in law, but I modified it.

You can literally be eating your muffins in 15 minutes from now! I've even made these for breakfast - before coffee!

Ok, here it is:
15 Minute Oat Muffins

Ingredients:
1 Cup Rolled Oats (you can use the quick oats, but I prefer the old fashioned type - better flavor)
1 Cup flour (or oat bran, or whole wheat flour or wheat germ)
1 Tbs baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract (or any other extract)
1/2 Cup apple juice or soy milk (today I used white grape juice, you can also use water if you don't have anything else)
1/4 Cup oil
2 eggs
1/3 Cup sugar or honey
Extras: raisins, blueberries, chopped apple, mashed banana, flax seeds, nuts, chocolate chips, pomegranate seeds, etc... (and that's just what I've tried it with! Try combining groups of extras - it's like trail mix in a muffin!)

Preheat the oven to 425 F
Mix all ingredients together
Fill 2 standard sized muffin tins, filling each cup about 3/4 full
Bake for 12-15 min

בתאבון! Enjoy!

Oh Joyful Rapture! Gloriously Delicious Soup!

You mean not everyone gets this excited about soup?? But it's SOUP. Soooup. In the winter... hot, cozy, creamy or chunky, spicy, comforting soup.

And I do believe, in my humble opinion, that I've mastered the art of zuccinni soup. I challenge any of you to make this soup and tell me it's not the best zucchini soup you've ever eaten!

Ok, here it is:

Ayelet's Mother of all Zucchini Soup

Ingredients:
1 Tbs oil or butter
1 large yellow onion, diced
1/2 tsp chopped fresh red chili pepper
(or 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper)
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 carrot, shredded
7-8 zucchini, cut into chunks
salt
pepper
garlic powder
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice or 1/4 tsp lemon salt

Directions:
In a large pot, sautee onions in oil just until translucent, add the chili pepper and stir. (Do this even if you are using cayenne!)
Add the potatoes and carrots, continue to cook over med heat for about 3-5 minutes.
Add the zucchini and pour in enough water just to cover.

Cover pot and bring to a boil. Then lower to a simmer and stir occasionally for 45 min - 1 hour.
Add salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste, and the lemon.
(Trust me, you won't taste the lemon. It just adds the right amount of acidity to bring out all the taste!)
If you have an immersion blender, use it now! If not just let the soup continue to simmer until everything is mushy and smooth.

Serve, and Enjoy!!!

My kids finished their bowls - this is big news!
I've currently had about 4 bowls and even Tzachi couldn't get enough of it! He loved it!

Yeast Update

I had to let it go. :-(
I'm going to try again and start on a Sunday and set a timer to remind myself to feed it and all that, but I started midweek, had to abandon it on Shabbat, thought I could probably revive it at some point on Monday, but then forgot about it and when I remembered it, oh boy, I did not want to go there!

Back to buying from the store for now, oh well.

I Can Make Soymilk!

And so can you! As I write this I am enjoying a cup of fresh, sweet, vanilla chai tea! Mmmmm..... heaven!
I know that you are thinking, "How can she not know about all the information about the problems with too much soy and the estrogen content and all that stuff?" Well, here's the real deal. If you eat mostly whole foods, and any soy products you do eat come from actual soybeans that you purchase or grow on your own, then you don't have to worry about all that stuff. The problem is what they're doing to the soy, not the soy itself.

If you're eating mostly processed foods (i.e. anything with an ingredient list of more than 2) Then you are most likely exposing yourself to processed soy parts. Soy protein isolate, soy powder, soy lecithin, hydrogenated soybean oil, etc... Our bodies don't know what to do with that junk! So we hit maximum soy toxicity levels and have all sorts of unwanted problems like allergic reactions and estrogen imbalance.

Soy, as a whole food, is just like eating kidney beans, for example, or lentils. And the health benefits and nutritional benefits are wonderful.

Er, ahem. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming: "Learning Your 7 Times Tables With Hands On Examples" - I mean, uh, "How to Make Your Own Homemade Soymilk" (I've been awake for waaaaay too many hours this week!)

I watched this video:


Practical "tachliss" recipe:
2 Cups dry soybeans, soaked overnight in 4 cups of water
~ 7-8 cups water
sweetener/flavorings to taste.

equipment:
blender
cheesecloth (or a nylon knee-high like I use! Doesn't everyone have pantyhose as kitchen utensils?!?)
a large pot
an extra bowl

yields (i before e, except after c. Yes, I did just say that.) about a liter and a half of soymilk.

I have one thing to add. Before you put the pot on the fire, rub some vegetable oil on the inside of the rim, it will prevent it from boiling over. 
Also, I highly recommend blending the beans for at least 2 minutes, as he says, otherwise your milk will be very watery.
And another thing: Don't throw out that soy meal! You can use it to make bread, or muffins, or soy burgers! Or just add it to your next smoothie for an extra kick of protein! (and this is one of those i/e exceptions that remind me how much I love my spellcheck!)

If you try it, please do let me know how it came out for you! I am thouroughly enjoying my tea!

Wonderful Tasty Chard!

I bought chard in the market this week b/c we've been low on dark green leafies, so I decided to get creative for preparing it. Here's my original recipe for  

Chard Salad w/ Cooked Grains
5 stalks chard (red or green)
1 leek
3 cloves garlic
1 cup barley
1 cup rice
~3 Tbs olive or sunflower oil

Directions:
Cook up the barley and rice (i did it separately, but you could probably cook them together and save time.
chop up chard, leek and garlic
sautee lightly in oil with some salt and pepper

refrigate all components separately.
before serving toss together with some fresh cilantro and lemon juice
Enjoy!

Shabbat Shalom from the Land of Milk and Honey!